


Aurum and Argentum Oculi

by Nyx_The_Author



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, RWBY
Genre: Ed and Qrow Drinking Buddies, slight crack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-02-28 03:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13262988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyx_The_Author/pseuds/Nyx_The_Author
Summary: There are two humans, both if different worlds, destined to save their own world. One of Silver Eyes, and one of Gold. What if the God of one world were to mess up when one of them died? Some humor, light crack fic, I guess.





	1. Goddamn It Harold

**Author's Note:**

> Sporadic updates, too busy writing my better fics. Check them out on FFN and here. The account name is the same on FFN.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed dies. That's all that happens. ;D

**This is one of the plot bunnies I have had, and I'm going on a quick upload spree. These are ideas I will most likely not continue anytime soon, maybe if I'm bored. Don't expect too much effort into them.**

* * *

**The overused Ed is in RWBY idea. I'm making this because the fanfictions on the site don't cover Ed going to the world as an alchemist after promised day, and are mostly about with Al and before Promised Day. Also the RWBY series is fantastic. Literally, Ruby says the perfect line about milk in one episode. I'm also putting up stories of whatever piss into my head and I wan't to work on. So expect erratic updates.**

**Gold:** _(Latin: Aurum)_  The atomic element 79, most used in the measuring of currencies. Soft, pliable, can be made into jewelry. Is both malleable and ductile. One gram of gold can be spread out into about a square meter plate, about 230 atoms thick. It is one of the most expensive materials on the planet.

 **Silver:** _(Latin: Argentum)_  The atomic element 47. The best conductor of heat and electricity known to man (Highest electrical and thermal conductivity known to man). It is second to Gold in

 **Eyes:** _(Latin: Oculi)_  An organ on the body used to receive lights and images to see. In some civilizations eyes are known as 'the windows to the soul'.

**Aurum and Argentum Oculi**

There are two humans, both if different worlds, destined to save their own world. One of Silver Eyes, and one of Gold. What if the God of one world were to mess up when one of them died?

* * *

Truth had just received somewhat shocking news. Edward Elric was dead. For real this time. Cause of death? Train crash. Truth snorts to himself.  _'_ I expected him to have a normal life after all he has done, but I guess he always has been unlucky. How Ironic that he died in a train crash. I always thought it wasn't smart of him to ride the tops of trains.'

**Earlier that Day**

' _Another train hijacking?!_ ' Edward wondered to himself. ' _What is it with robbers always being on the same train as me_?' He got up and peered down the hallway, looking for anyone who might see him. Noticing no one, Edward walks down the hallway towards the conductor's car where the thugs are intimidating the conductor.

' _Man, they should just 'train' the conductors in self defense training?_ ' Edward punned to himself, then chuckled at his own humor. He slips out a window onto the roof, like he always does.

Using a new type of Alchemy that had been discovered by his brother, he magnetized his shoes and automail to improve balance and how easily he can stand on the cars, a trick he acquired when he was messing around with magnetizing alchemy, and accidentally stuck himself to a wall for a few hours until Al could figure out a new formula to de-magnetize him.

He arrived at the front car, and sees the bandits holding the conductor at gunpoint. "Not on my watch!" he announces to himself.

Dropping down to the floor, Edward immediately swings his automail leg around, knocking over the closest two bandits. The others startled at the sound, and one charges at Ed. Ed claps his hands, and pressed them to the floor. Blue lightning arcs around the other bandits as the floor warps. The metal seems to grow together into hands that wrap around the bandit's legs, trapping them. One pulls their gun, and Edward claps his hands to the gun. He rips it apart via deconstruction alchemy, and the pieces clatter to the floor at the thug's feet. Annoyed at the thug for trying to shoot him, he punches the guy in the face with his automail arm.

When he had activated the final circle at Promised Day, Truth had let him have his brother back, for the cost of his arm again, simply because Edward had assisted him in stopping the Homunculi. Although Truth may not care about human lives or what happens to Ed, if the Homunculi had succeeded, then Truth himself would have died, simple as that. Their goal was to consume Truth. By saving Truth, Ed had a special place in the being's heart (if Truth had a heart.)

Standing in the middle of the train, he grinned cockily. "Ha! I still got it!" he exclaimed.

One of the downed thugs coughed, and growled. "You pipsqueak..." he muttered. Ed stared at the man, and growled back, looking very intimidating. In recent days since they had beat Father, Ed had apparently grown to a respectable height of 5'7". He was proud that he had grown, and didn't have as bad of a reaction to being called short. Well, he still reacted, just it wasn't as bad.

"Don't call me  **SHORT!** " he roared, punting the man into the wall with his leg. Frowning from being called short, he turned to the front of the train, and realized the conductor was missing. "Hmm?"

*BANG*

He whirled around to see the man he punted having disconnected the rest of the train from their car. The back of the train began slowing, and shaking. One of the wheels nearly fell off of the rails, and the entire thing was wobbling. Ed paled. "Aww, hell no!" he shouted, racing for the connector. He dove, and tripped over the man. Ed grabbed blindly, and snagged the back of the car. He hung for a moment, then began slipping.

The man sat up, and chuckled weakly, already bleeding out after having been impaled accidentally earlier when Ed kicked him. "If I go down, I'm taking you with me, Fullmetal Runt!" he shouted.

The man grabbed Ed, and  _jumped._  As they fell, Ed saw his life flash before his eyes. Al, Winry, Granny, Mustang. He tried to blink, but couldn't move. He felt something leave his body as he hit the ground, and his mind followed the object, whatever it was. In a state of acceptance, Ed amusedly realized that the object leaving him was his soul. ' _How ironic, I died on a train. I never was cautious around those things...'_  Ed sank back, and saw the gate appear, and fell into it, seeing Truth ahead of him. The white figure reached for the soul...

Then everything went to hell. The soul of the thug, (Who by now was annoying enough to be considered a main antagonist. How about we call him Harold, to make this easier.) Slammed into Edward's soul, and they drifted diagonally, towards the edge of the Gate. Ed threw himself angrily at Harold's soul, and tore at it with an unrestrained  _fury._ How dare this soul, worth less than any other soul, try to stop him from having a peaceful afterlife!

* * *

Truth moved towards the Gate, quickly readying a body to store Ed's soul in. The plan was to have Ed live in the void with him forever, so they could enjoy the afterlife together. Truth would also probably allow his friends to stay in the afterlife as well. It was the least he could do for the savior of Amestris and himself. Opening the great doors, he peered into the darkness, making out a glowing ball, writhing from side to side. Looking closer, it looked like another soul was attacking Ed's soul. Worried, Truth peeled one off of the other, and pulled Ed's soul into the white expanse, safe from the other one. Inserting it into the body, Truth awaited the Fullmetal Alchemist's awakening.

The body Truth made blinked. Then chuckled. Truth knew something was wrong. "I did it! I killed the Fullmetal Alchemist!" it roared, laughing.

Truth stilled realizing his mistake. "I grabbed the wrong soul." Truth muttered, then its eyes widened, realizing what it had done. "I grabbed the wrong soul!" Truth cried. It peered into the darkness of the Gate, but was unable to see anything. Truth whirled on Harold, who finally realized he had fucked up. Big time. Truth would make this mortal pay. And pay he did.

* * *

Ed was floating. How long? Days? Years? Seconds? He couldn't tell. Finally, something snagged him, and he was thrown into light. He awoke to birds chirping.

* * *

**NN: RIP Harold, you were annoying until the very end.**

**Like it? Want me to continue? R &R. Check out the other stories on my account!**


	2. Ed the Mailman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed meets Tukson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? So... it turns out I never actually wrote down any ideas I had for the plot of this story, and trusted my memory. The result of that was forgetting the entire story idea I had. Now with the new information given by the fourth and fifth volumes of RWBY, I have to rethink the original idea I had. So this story is now different, but I got a lot of inspiration by reading other RWBY stories. (I reccomend the stories by Coeur Al'Aran. (They're the highest reviewed and followed in the RWBY fanfiction list) Especially their 'Service with a Smile' fic. Anyway, this will still be Ed in Remnant, and Ed will be in Beacon eventually, but it's... different. You'll see. You'll see. Also Ed's moral compass may be a bit different as he is older than in the Anime, and is much more similar to Qrow's standards of morality. Thanks for reading this semi-long AN, and here's the story. Cheers!

I own nothing. All FMA facts after Promised Day are original though, as technically the anime never explicitly said what happened after they beat Father.

"Amestrian (German)" _  
_"Talking"  
 _'Thinking'  
_ ** _Messages on a Computer/Scroll_**

* * *

"Yo! Kid!" a voice called, someone lightly tapping Edward on the face. He blinked at the sun illuminating the sky, sitting up wearily. He looked over to see a man gazing down at him. Ed frowned, tilting his head in confusion. "Are you alright?" The man continued, cautiously glancing to the sides. "Are you a huntsman?"

Ed blinked in confusion. "What the hell do you want, old man? I don't understand a word you're saying!" he growled, standing up and brushing off his red cloak. The man was speaking a language that clearly wasn't one Ed knew, which was strange as he knew many languages, including Xingese and Drachman.

* * *

Tukson eyed the young man warily. He had been on the way to pick up a new shipment of books for his shop, only to find the young man lying on the road as if he had fallen from the sky. ' _What a ridiculous thought..._ ' he complained to himself. On closer inspection the young man, for he was older than his height showed, definitely had the build of a huntsman. He would know, having met multitudes in his past. Tukson was confused by this enigma of a person. The language was not one he knew, which was strange as there was only a select few that existed on Remnant. Perhaps this man was from a village with its own language?

Once he straightened up, the figure turned to the man, and then suddenly keeled over in pain, their head pounding. The boy grabbed his head, then pulled away his hand and Tukson saw the white glove the boy wore was covered with blood. The teen cursed in that strange language of his before collapsing to the ground in unconsciousness.

"Shit." Tukson growled. He looked at the blond boy. He clearly was foreign, giving Tukson a clear reason to not get involved, yet another part of his mind also pointed out that since he was foreign, he wouldn't cause trouble. He sighed, walking back to his truck. He paused halfway there, glancing back at the boy. He argued with himself for a brief moment, then shook his head, walking back to the young man. "I guess you're coming with me." Tukson stated, picking up the red cloaked figure. "At least until you can pay me back for this." He stumbled briefly, eyeing the figure with a new appreciation. "How are you so heavy?!" he grumbled, placing the boy in the passengers seat of the vehicle. He didn't notice the quiet clang as the boy's right arm hit the door softly.

He kept the boy under his gaze the entire ride home, not trusting the fact that he could be a spy of some kind. You could never know when you were a leak in the White Fang. ' _If this kid is a threat, I hope he knows who he's up against.'_  Tukson thought.

If Ed had been awake, he would have had the same thoughts running through his head.

* * *

Ed groaned in his sleep, turning to the side. He heard someone cooking food downstairs, a pot clanging against something else. Bacon wafted through the air, and he groaned tiredly. "No Al, let me sleep in more..." he grumbled loudly. The sounds continued, and Ed sighed, sitting up. "Fine, fine, I'm-" he began, then paused as his eyes finally opened.

"...Up" he finished, gazing around in confusion. He glanced down to find himself in his own clothes, but had no idea where he was. He got up and checked himself over, noting his Automail was new, as if he had just gotten an upgrade. Which was impossible, as he hadn't gone back to Winry for a check in weeks, not since he got a week off from Fuhrer Mustang. His pocket watch was in his pocket, which meant he wasn't robbed, and he frowned. Then he remembered what had happened with the train. He sat back down, stunned into silence. He gazed around, noting the lights and the items around the room that were very high tech, like the small screen that seemed to be a communicator of some kind, but it was too small to have anything in it. He whirled around when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and realized he must be out of it to not notice sooner.

Instincts took over, and he hid behind a desk. The footsteps reached the doorway, and paused, then the door opened. With a single movement Ed had his automail blade at the man's throat, and they both froze. "Where am I?" Ed growled.

The man slowly put his hands in the air, and spoke. "Calm down kid. Do you speak English?"

Ed eyed the man, noting no visible weapons on his person. he sighed and pulled back his arm. "Great, I'm somewhere else thanks to the Truth forsaken Gate, and I don't understand them!" he ranted aloud. He turned his gaze back to Tukson. "Oi, you got a way to talk to me?" Ed asked curiously.

Tukson gazed at the boy in interest. That blade had been expertly hidden, vanishing with only a crackle, leaving no sign of it. Definitely high quality too. He understood some of what the boy was saying, but only got the understanding that it was a question being asked. Ed frowned, thinking. Then he slammed his fist into his palm. "I know! Charades!" He turned to Tukson, miming speaking, then scratching his head. He then mimed a reading a book.

"Hmm..." Tukson rubbed his chin in thought. "A speaking... no, a lack of understanding. Then a book? Oh, a dictionary!" Tukson said, nodding. He gestured for Ed to follow, and they went downstairs. Ed gazed outside, eyeing the advanced tech and cars in shock, and noting the strange language everywhere. He groaned mentally, complaining to himself about how long it would take to learn the language. Meh, couldn't be harder than cracking Marcoh's notes, let alone his own. Speaking of which, he took out his notebook, and began scribbling down lines in code of what was happening. It wouldn't do to go without keeping track of everything.

He ran his hand along the walls, feeling all the metals within it, surprised at some materials he didn't recognize. His knowledge gained from the Portal of Truth all those years ago allowed him to feel the materials that made up whatever he touched, which came in handy whenever he was working in an unknown location. He gazed around when they entered the bottom floor of the three story building, practically salivating at the amount of books piled everywhere. Tukson gestured to the shelf containing books that were clearly dictionaries. Edward grabbed a few, putting them down. "Danke." Ed said aloud.

Tukson turned in surprise. The word had sounded almost like 'Thanks'. Maybe their languages weren't too different after all? "Since I have no clue what language you speak, the dictionaries don't have anything you can read, but there are pictures matching the words, so it should be good enough. There are also some children's books you can try?" he suggested, pointing at a corner shelf containing brightly colored books. Ed glanced them over, then twitched slightly, considering that him reading children's books would signify that he was short. (He had become much taller in the last few years, even taller than Winry, but it was a sore point for him)

With a sigh, he nodded, grabbing a few to read as well. He also grabbed a few others here and there, including one he thought was especially interesting. It held an image of crystals, which could be similar to a Philosopher's stone? He growled at the thought. They had better not be.

Tukson coughed to get his attention. Ed turned, tilting his head. He pointed to himself. "I'm Tukson."

Ed nodded, pointing with his bloodied glove at himself. "Edvard."

Tukson nodded. He pointed upstairs and pantomimed eating. "Food's upstairs."

Ed nodded, accepting the unsaid olive branch from the man.

Tukson sighed. "I hope I'm not making a mistake." he turned to the door as it opened, a customer walking in.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade! Can I get you anything?" He said, putting up a calm mask.

* * *

Ed grumbled to himself in a mix of English and Amestrian. "Vhy the hell do I have to ztay inside?" He said slowly to Tukson. The large man narrowed his eyes. "That's because so far, you have a limited grasp of this language." he said, gesturing with a variation of ASL (Amestrian Sign Language) Ed had taught Tukson. It wasn't too hard to use, but despite the fact it got the job done, the book seller insisted on Edward knowing the proper language. "Besides, you have nowhere to go and no money!"

Ed crossed his arms over his coat. They stared at each other, both unwilling to compromise.

It had been two weeks since Ed had woken up in this world, aching and unable to speak their language. He had been depressed for a while, but soon realized that he had truly died. There would be no reason to try to go back, especially since he and Al had promised never to try to bring each other back ever again. They would simply continue living, and be happy. Fortunately he still remembered how to make automail, having learned how a few months ago after Winry sat him down and forced him to try until he could do it. He had healed from the wounds he had, and had begun helping Tukson with running the shop, memorizing the contents of almost every important book in the store. His English had progressed rapidly, and could now speak most words, albeit with an accent. Finally he had reached the point to where they could hold a small conversation, and it had even impressed Tukson with how fast he had learned.

Ed hadn't shared about his automail yet, not wanting to have to explain his history. Speaking of which, he had a waterproof version that Winry had prototyped. It could get pretty wet, like in the rain without any rust or wear, but couldn't be used underwater. He had a made up backstory about traveling from far away (all told via charades of course), and he had passed out on the edge of the road. Tukson knew about his Alchemy, but Ed had bullshitted his way through the explanation, convincing Tukson that it was the manipulation of earth and metals. The large man clearly knew that wasn't true, but he didn't mention the discrepancies in Ed's story, so Edward didn't care. They both knew the other had secrets.

Edward was amazed with the differences of this new world. The idea of naturally forming crystals that contained what seemed to be uncontrolled Alchemy astounded him. He could already imitate all the effects of this Dust with alchemy, but it was also interesting on its own. Were they natural? Or did they form due to some other cause? Grimm were an issue though. He shivered at the thought of a being with no soul. It would be like an animal version of the army Father had made, but with no souls.

Ed had begun getting restless over the last day after he had memorized all the books that interested him, and Tukson finally had enough of his relentless pacing. "Fine!" Tukson announced. "I'll let you run some errands, okay? I want you to be able to get around town, and it'll help you learn to talk. Don't get into trouble though."

"Zanks!" Ed nodded happily, finally able to get outside. Tukson handed him a list of addresses, a stack of lien, car keys, and a scroll. Ed skimmed through the list, committing it to memory. He frowned at the scroll. The devices frustrated him, as they were so complex he couldn't fix them with Alchemy. He also couldn't use it with his gloves on, meaning he had to take the glove off of his left hand. Seriously, his automail was easier to recreate than the small device.

"Zee you!" he called to the man with a cheery wave. "Be careful!" Tukson called, accidentally showing a rare act of kindness. Tukson chuckled, admitting to himself that the kid was growing on him, despite his quirks and Napoleon complex he had.

* * *

Ed whistled to himself, having already bought food from a store and received a new shipment of books, now his last job was to go give a note to someone at a bar. "What am I, a mailman?" he muttered. The bus he was riding stopped with a screech, and he stepped out with his bags easily held by his automail arm. He walked into the bar/nightclub, which was surprisingly open despite it being the middle of the day. He eyed the men wearing matching suits and sunglasses and snorted. "What a cliche. Matching outfits? This isn't a cartoon!" he laughed, enjoying the fact that no one can understand him. He walked up to the bar and sat down on the stool, eyeing the two drunks at the end of the bar, each one looking like they had a few too many drinks. It was awkward when Ed realized that he had trouble getting into the high stool. He went red when he recognized a moment later that it was adjustable and lowered it down to a better height. The bartender eyed him with mild bemusement, and pointed at Ed.

"Aren't you a bit too young to be coming around here?" the man said carefully. Ed frowned, but ignored the jab. At least the man didn't use the word 'little'.

"I am 25, gott verdammt!" He said, crossing his arms. The man chuckled, and nodded. "What'll it be then?" he asked.

"I vill have vodka." Ed said. The man frowned at the unfamiliar word and accent. "I'm sorry sir, but I don't recognize that drink."

' _C'mon, this place has different drink names too?! The hell? The curse words were enough, but now I have to relearn how to order alcohol as well?!'_  he grumbled, pointing to the vodka on the shelf. The man nodded in understanding, grabbing the drink from the shelf and filling a glass with it.

Ed read the bottle, memorizing the name of the drink. "Atlesian Vodka..." he muttered, scribbling it in his notebook for future use. He took the glass from the bartender with a smile, and sipped it, nodding appreciatively. It was a close match to the stuff that he had shared with Roy in the celebration after he had gotten his body back. That bastard had thought it was funny for vodka to be his first ever glass of alcohol. Asshole.

Ed grinned at the memory. A crash sounded, and he glanced over to see one of the two men leaning over the bar counter, waving at the bartender. He had just collapsed, dropping his glass onto the floor where it lay in pieces. The man stood up, and waved for another drink.

"Sir, you've had enough." The bartender called. The man stood up angrily, reaching across and grabbing the bartender by the tie. "I said I want another!" he shouted, pulling back for a punch. His friend was too drunk to move well, and was still sitting down. The bouncers moved to act, and the bartender grabbed something below the counter, but Ed had seen enough. With a sigh, he dropped off the high chair and grabbed the drunk's cocked back arm before he could punch.

"Enough. I like zis place, so I vould like it if you didn't cause a fuss." Ed stated, trying to pronunciate clearly. The man looked back at the red cloaked boy. "Like hell! What're you gonna do kid?!"

"This." Ed said punching the man in the jaw with his left arm. The man staggered, holding his nose. "Now you've done it!" He threw a punch at the blond.

Ed caught it neatly and shoved the man away, moving forward to close the distance. The drunkard drew a pistol, and Ed glared furiously. It wouldn't do to have innocent people harmed if the drunk man missed. He slid forward with a clean movement, simultaneously clapping and disarming his gun, which transmuted into a useless block of metal. Unfortunately, a bullet got out, and it exploded against Ed's automail arm. He glanced at the now frozen glove in interest. "Huh." he said. "So  _zhat's_  vat zis Dust does!" he muttered. With a flex of his hand the ice shattered. The man with the gun scrambled back, but Ed hit him with a punch. In the nose. With his other,  _automail_ arm.

The man dropped like a rock, and Edward turned to his buddy, who moved forward as well.  _'Not worth my time_.' Ed thought, transmuting the floor in a second, creating cuffs around the man.

The bartender took a step back, eyeing Ed in a new light. The man gestured at the envelope in Ed's pocket. "Thanks for that. You're not here for a drink, are you? Are you a huntsman?"

Ed shook his head I am wanting to... speak vith Junior?" he said, recalling the weird name. It wasn't even a name in Amestris, so why was it here? This world was weird.

The man nodded, reaching below the counter to press a button.

A few moments later a man and two young women came out from the back room, and Edward blinked in surprise. While the man, who was supposedly Junior, looks like a tougher version of his goons, but the two women had interesting outfits. They were clearly sisters, probably twins. He looked for hidden weapons, finding none. That was obvious, as they had no reason to hide the weapons, especially when Edward, and unknown, came in asking for the manager. They had a red and white color scheme going on, and Ed noted their weapons that were practically attention grabbing. Some kind of clawed gloves for the red sister, and bladed shoes for the other. A nice team combo that would be useful in combat.

"Who asked for me?" the man grumbled, looking at the unconscious and restrained man with a grimace.

"I did." Edward said, stepping forward.

The bartender nodded to Junior. "This guy helped take out these two idiots in seconds, faster than the bouncers, and one of them was armed."

Junior raised an eyebrow in appreciation.

"What's your name kid?"

"Edvard Elric." he growled. "My name iz not kid."

Junior nodded. "What do you have for me?"

Ed nodded in understanding and handed the envelope over. "Zis is vrom Tukzon. He vants to let you know zat he iz going low for a vhile, and the fang is after him. I have no idea vhat that means, but it sounds dangerous. Is it?" he asked, honestly worried for the man who had cared for him over the last couple days.

Junior opened up the note, reading through. "Possibly."

The two girls circled Ed slowly, causing him to frown in confusion. "Vat?" he asked.

"Oh, you know," the white themed girl began. "It just seems that old Junior has an interest in you." The other continued. "So we want to see what makes you so interesting!" The first said, smiling innocently. With a quick movement, she swung her foot towards Ed, who caught it in a flash. "Wow, you caught that? No average person is that competent, so why don't you come with us, so we can  _test_  you out?" the red one smiled.

Ed blushed slightly, but stared at them as he dropped her foot. "I have no idea who you are, so vhy should I trust you?"

"Ah!" The white clothed girl said. "I am Melanie Malachite."

"And I am Miltia Malachite. And that wasn't a request." she said, gripping Ed by the right arm tightly, increasing pressure.

Ed simply smiled at her, and she blinked in surprise. "You don't have aura, so why isn't this hurting?" she asked, gripping his arm. She tapped it a few times, hearing a clang. "Ah, armor, I see."

Ed smiled. "Not quite. You showed me your veapons, so I vill show you mine." He clapped onto his arm, transmuting out a blade, and pulled up the sleeve enough to show them the automail. "Fake arm." he said. There was no harm in sharing that. It wasn't like it was a weakness or anything. It actually was a bonus as it could be replaced. The girls were going to continue, but Junior spoke up. "Alright girls, enough messing with the boy."

"Ugh, fiiiine." Miltia said.

"It was just getting interesting." Melanie added.

They sauntered back through the door where they came, and Melanie turned around just before she left. "Oh, Edward, dearie!" she called teasingly. "Do stop by again soon! You are an  _interesting_  boy." he nodded, deciding not to look too much into the meaning in her words. He turned to Junior. "So, am I done?" Ed asked.

Junior nodded, passing a note to Edward. "Yep. Make sure old Tukson gets that message, and the debt will be paid off."

Edward grabbed his belongings, and placed a stack of lien on the counter. "Alright. Zee you later Junior." Ed called, leaving. Junior nodded. "You're a nice kid, so I'll let you have a warning. There are a few people that Tukson has pissed off, so he should be more careful! Oh, and Edward! Come back any time! You were a real help, and the girls seem to like you! Not to mention your better than my men."

Ed nodded, grinning back at the man. "Alright old man! I'll come back someday. I promise! You have good drinks here!"

Little did Edward know that the promise would change the fate of Vale in a drastic, unforeseen way.

* * *

"Oi! Tukson!" Ed called loudly. "I got your jobs done!" he called, entering the store. The book seller grinned. "How was it? Did you find your way around all right?"

"Ya, I did. Junior had a nice place too. I zink I vill be heading back in a few days. He did ask." Ed explained, handing the purchases to Tukson.

"That's fine. How about you go rest for a little before cleaning up down here." Ed nodded, heading upstairs.

Tukson grinned, feeling happy for the strange blond boy. He frowned when he saw the contents of Junior's letter, and sighed. "The White Fang, huh?" he said quietly. He burned the paper, dumping the remains.

* * *

Out in Vale, Roman Torchwick read a note passed to him by one of his men. "So Tukson bailed? I guess the cat's out of the bag!" he chuckled at his pun. "Ah well, he hasn't told anyone anything, so I guess I'll deal with him after I get done with Phase One..." he muttered to himself, deep in thought. He turned to Neo. "That means leave him alone for now, got it?" he said. Neo nodded, going back to her silent doodling with a knife on a notebook with what was hopefully red ink and not something more sinister. Torchwick shrugged. It was probably fine for someone as young as Neo to do that, right? Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, a lot got done in this chapter. I couldn't decide on a solid ending, so it kinda dropped off slightly. I had posted this chapter earlier today, then re-uploaded later with new edits. So if you're reading this now, congrats! You are from after the new version is out! I understand my other stories aren't updated as of late, but I have the next chapter for 'The Burning Demon of Nazarick', 'Chaotic Chaos', and 'A Dusty Old Qrow' almost done. I just had to deal with a long term English project in school. Anyway, those should be out soon, and the 'Armored Alchemist' story will be updated after those ones along with my Fairy Tale and Musical Melodies stories after that. Thanks fro reading, leave a review! (By the way, please leave a review while logged in if you can, as I cannot reply to reviews left by people in guest mode)


	3. Going out with a 'Yang'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed decided to stop a bar fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is less than a month before Beacon, but more than 2 weeks away if my math is correct.
> 
> The music playing during the Yang vs Ed fight: ◀️ELETRONIC▶️ [Yui - Again] Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood - Opening 1 (Anigam3 Remix)  
> Just look it up on YouTube, if you feel like using it.
> 
> If the combat scene feels off, feel free to point out any corrections I could make. Fighting scenes aren't my best work, especially with Edward not having an aura and Yang using shotgun powered punches, I couldn't make it super long or anything. (I rewrote it like 5 times btw)
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

 

Ed shrugged on his new red sweatshirt. The comfortable material was soft and much better than anything that wasn't made via alchemy, and the Flamel that was on the back was rather detailed. "Wow, this is really nice." Ed said, inspecting the materials it was made of. "Some kind of cotton and some... polyester, was it?" Ed said carefully.

Tukson nodded. "I realized that old cloak you wear was pretty old, despite whatever thing you do with your semblance to fix it, so I decided to buy you a few different color sweatshirts and have the seamstress emblazon them with that icon of yours on the back."

Ed nodded to himself. "Thanks, I wasn't expecting anything though..." Ed trailed off as Tukson waved a hand.

"Don't worry about it. It's been, what, five weeks or so since I found you? You really helped with the shop and organization. Not to mention getting on Junior's good side. That helped me a lot." Organizing the shop was an understatement. Ed had gotten bored after he read all of the books in the building, except for the ones that were not translated and were in an ancient language. (He was nearly done translating the ancient scrolls. They were actually easier to decode than his notes)

He had also been visiting Junior a lot, at least once every few days. He had warmed up to the thugs there, and they actually respected him once he beat them all with his automail arm. They had realized his advantage, but accepted him regardless of his 'disability', as some people put it. Despite Mlitia and Melanie's personalities, he found he enjoyed their company a lot. It wasn't a big deal to Ed that Tukson was friends with gangs and probably worse. Edward had been a fugitive in his own country, so he had a soft spot for stories like Tukson's. The fact that the panther faunus was trying to break ties to the White Fang definitely helped.

Oh, don't even get Ed started about the White Fang. He didn't care about the news at all. Most of the stories made him cringe at how inept the police were at catching what was essentially a bunch of weak-ass chimeras. Seriously, one of the chimeras from his world, like Heinkel, would probably be able to take out a squad of the terrorists with ease.

"So, you've been here a while. Have you had any thoughts about what you plan to do? You can't stay with me forever." Tukson huffed lightly. "You'll run me bankrupt with how much you eat. Thank goodness that you mostly eat dinner at Junior's."

Ed chuckled. "Well, you know that where I used to come from I was in the military."

Tukson nodded, having been given a vague description by Ed, and his mind had filled the gaps. He had assumed that Edward had been in the Atlas military before retiring for a classified reason. It made sense as to why he had an automail arm and leg, the pieces seemed to be very high tech for most of the prosthetic limbs that existed in this world.

"I really don't want to get into the hunter business. At all. I've had enough combat to last two lifetimes, and injuries to match. I'm thinking that I should run a repair business, maybe on the side until I can get it up and running. Or just as a minor job until I can work somewhere else. I;m meeting with Junior tonight to try to find someone who can make decent identification for me. I could go into researching dust theory, they are similar to something I used to work with, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I could make stuff out of gold though. I wouldn't be actually making the stuff, just reshaping it..." Ed began mumbling to himself, snapping back to attention when Tukson coughed. "Sorry, I must have gotten distracted again." Ed chuckled, rubbing his head in embarrassment.

Tukson nodded. "Sounds good for me. Anyway, you have the shift in the store for the next hour, I'll be shopping for more new clothing for you."

Ed nodded, putting away his other sweatshirts, which were black with a white flamel on it, and the inverse. "See ya, old man."

"You too kid." Tukson grunted in return.

* * *

Blake Belladonna eyed the bookshop suspiciously. "Tukson's Book Trade, huh?" she muttered. She fervently hoped that the old panther faunus had managed to avoid the White Fang after he had managed to leave the group while leaking information to the public. His shop had no security outside of it, and it put her on guard. Not that a bookstore would need security, but the fact her friend had betrayed the White Fang didn't make her any less worried for his safety.

She pushed open the door, a small bell ringing as she entered. The store was rather quaint, all of the books were neatly organized, much more so than she had expected from a small bookstore in Vale. She looked around, and didn't notice anyone inside. "Um, hello?" she said, quietly, not wanting to intrude on Tukson's privacy.

"Who's there?" a voice called, she looked around, but didn't see anyone. A hand tapped her shoulder, and she whipped around in surprise, suddenly face-to-face with a young man. Somehow he had snuck up on her  _silently_. It was almost impossible with her faunus hearing and senses, but somehow he had done it. "Oh! A customer! Welcome to Tukson's book trade! I'm Tukson's assistant. Do you need assistance vith anything?" His voice carried a strange accent, and it pronounced some sounds differently than any she had heard before.

Blake eyed the man in interest, his unique eye color attracting her attention like a ball of yarn does to a kitten. "Where's Tukson?" she asked, suspicious as to why her old mentor would have a kid in his store with no supervision. Had something happened to him?

"Oh, ze old man's out shopping. I'm running the place for him. Nice to meet ya, I'm Edvard. Edvard Elric." the young man grinned. From his appearance, he was unassuming, but Blake noticed his weight was shifted differently than most people, almost in a combat stance, but it was casual enough that it had to be by instinct. His clothes were standard for Vale, but the gloves he wore were interesting. They were leather, and a peculiar symbol, like a dragon on top of a complex icon. His hair was interesting, but not unusual in its length or color. His eye color was gold, which was close enough to the amber than most faunus had, but he had no faunus traits. She couldn't sense an aura, so he wasn't a threat. Maybe she really was overthinking it too much.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Blake Belladonna." She shook his  _left_  hand, surprised as the unusual handshake. ' _An old injury on his other hand?_ ' she inferred. "I'm just looking around. I'm in Vale for a short time before I'm going to Beacon."

The man's eyebrow's rose. "Ah, zat's the hunter place? The one where you fight ze Grimm?" His face scrunched up at the words 'Hunter' and 'Grimm', as if they were a bad piece of food. "Sorry." He said as he saw he expression. "I used to be in... a military training camp. My Colonel was a bastard, so I don't like combat too much any more."

Blake nodded. Some recruits into the Fang didn't like having to fight, so backed out and never came back. The man's question took her by surprise. "How do you know Tukson?" he asked, glancing at Gambol Shroud, which was poking from her waist.

Blake's ears twitched. "Well... we knew each other long ago."

Edward blinked. He raised an eyebrow in understanding. "Ahhh, you had the same job?" he said, seemingly unknowing of Tukson being an ex-Fang member.

"Yeah, something like that." she said. Ed nodded to himself. "Well, vould you like to buy a book?"

She nodded, then realized what kind of book she was looking for. Her face went red, and her ears stiffened. "Er, do you have... Ninjas of Love?" she asked, mortified.

Ed (When did she start calling him that?) snorted, and she rolled her eyes. "Sure thing kid." he said, moving to a section of books that did not look appropriate for young children. "Vhich volume?"

"Um, the third one. Oh, and that one book about a man with two souls." she said, remembering a new book that her favorite author had come out with.

"' _Ninjas of Love, Vol. 3_ ' and ' _Ze Man With Two Souls_ ', coming right up!" Ed said. "Anything else, kid?" he said with a small smile.

"No, that's all. Oh, don't call me kid." she said in exasperation

Edwards smile turned mischievous. "How about kitten?" Her expression turned murderous. "What? Your bow twitches. Anyvay, it's cute."

Blake blushed lightly. "W-well, why do you call me that? You're shorter than a lot of guys, and look my age."

Edward twitched, a vein popping. "I am not s-s-short." he stuttered in frustration. He breathed in and counted to ten. "I am twenty-five."

Blake's eyes widened. That was eight years older than her! "Really?"

Edward flexed his left arm. "Yeah, I know, I'm too handsome to be that old." he chuckled. Blake was overwhelmed with his brash personality, and didn't come up with a response before he cut her off again. "Here are your books, Blake!" he said, holding out the two volumes. "That vill be 650 lien." He held out his hand for the payment.

She dropped the currency into his hand, and promptly giggle when it stuck to his hand. "Blast! Vhy does  _only_  money stick to me!" He said, shaking his hand. He pulled off the chips, but not before Blake saw a flash of metal under his gloves. So he did have a weapon, or at least armor of some kind. That was good to know, at least Tukson had someone for security, despite the fact they had no aura. He placed the chips in the cash register with a clink. "Is zat all?"

"Yes, thank you for your assistance." she said, already looking forward to reading the books.

"See you later kitty cat!" he called. She slammed the door shit in response. "You know she loves it." he said to himself smugly, moving to put out new copies of the books she had purchased.

* * *

Ed nodded to the bouncers as he entered, and they waved, already used to his repeated presence. They had begun letting him in regardless of the time, especially since if made the twins unhappy if he were late. The music pounded loudly, the people on the dance floor ignorant to the world around them.

"Hey Ed~" the Malachite twins said as Ed approached the quieter bar area. "Nice jacket." Miltia said.

"It's good to see a man who doesn't wear the same singular outfit  _all week long_." Melanie said loud enough for the grunts nearby to hear. They shuffled uncomfortably, aware that it seemed like they always wore the same suits to work every day.

"They can't help it sister, it's junior's dress code." Miltia replied.

Ed chuckled. "Well, hopefully they have seven identical suits, at least so they stay clean and can have one every day, yeah?" The grunts shuffled, some of them clearly not having thought of that before.

"How have you ladies been?" he asked the twins, sipping some Atlesian Vodka from the bartender. His speaking had become more fluent as of late, and he was finally pronouncing words correctly.

"Good, but better now that you're here." Melanie said with a flutter of her eyes. Ed rolled his eyes at the cheesy line.

"How original." he deadpanned. "Maybe an idiot vould have believed that line."

Jaune Arc sneezed loudly, and tripped into a door frame.

"Hey, Edward, I've got someone who wants to meet you!" Junior called, strolling out from the back conference room. Edward had asked him if there were any good paying jobs in Vale that were worth his time. It seemed the man had come through.

Ed turned to see a man in a white tuxedo with a black fedora and red tie. He strolled up next to Junior, a cane in his hand and cigar in his mouth. Ed thought the clothing actually looked really good, even though the eye shadow ruined the effect. "Ah, so this is the young man who you have become so fond of?" the man drawled, resting on his cane. The cane clearly had a different mechanism within it, as there was a very well hidden trigger in the handle.

"Oi, old man, who's this guy?" Ed asked Junior, ignoring the well dressed man. It was a diversionary tactic, one he had perfected for years. Act rude, or at least more than usual, and then they would underestimate you.

"Oh, this is-"

"Roman Torchwick, at your service. Although, you could be at my service for a decent fee." Roman said, grinning roguishly at the blond.

Ed shook his head, taking a sip of his drink. "Sorry, I have no idea who you are. I'm Edward Elric, nice to meet'cha!" he replied, holding out his left hand.

Roman hesitated. "You truly don't know who I am? Have you even looked at the news lately? I'm quite well known around these parts." he seemed shocked by Edward's lack of recognition.

Ed shrugged. So what,this guy was some kind of crook? So long as he have to kill anyone in a job, Ed would gladly work for money. "Nope, I hate this new technology, especially my scroll. It never works out well when I use it while I wear my gloves, so I don't watch the news." he answered. "Should I know you? You should know that I don't care about what you do as a job or whatever. So long as I get paid, then I'm happy. Oh, and nothing morally wrong. I'm not a police officer or anything." he shrugged.

' _At least, not anymore._ ' he thought to himself.

Roman grinned. This day was getting even more interesting by the moment. "Well then Blondie, what skills do you have? Anything useful?"

Edward nodded. "Depends on what you need me for. I have the ability to control metals and other earthen materials by touching them, and also have extensive training in combat and science. I'm good with stealth, and forgeries as well if I've seen a copy of an actual document before. I'm not afraid to kill, but I would like to avoid it at all costs. I'm quite skilled in hacking as well." he added. Learning to code was a pain in the ass, the devices simply being hard to work with when one has a  _metal_ arm that had some magnetic materials in it, but he was making progress. By progress he meant that he was practically a master. It was much easier than cracking an alchemist's notes. He had cracked the Vale Police database in minutes. It was a joke.

Roman nodded, a gleam in his eye. He took a seat next to Edward, and ordered a drink from the bar. "Really? That's quite a skillset you've got there. Mind giving me an example of your power?"

Ed nodded, reaching over the counter and grabbing some salt, water, and a silicon chip that he was messing with earlier in the day when he was working on trying to transmute a scroll. The silicon and salt were placed into the water. With a flourish, he clapped his hands together, and pulled them apart slowly, showing Roman the crackling energy in his hands. He touched the glass, and a light surged. After the light vanished, the glass was different. It had become much thinner, and then formed into a solid form. It had twisted into a suit of armor, with red quartz in the helmet as the eyes, and blue quartz made up the body trim. On the shoulder was a flamel in purple quartz. A cloud of steam was around it as well, adding to the effect.

"Wow... that's a work of art, right there." Roman whistled, picking up the figure and examining it from every angle. Edward nodded, gazing listlessly at the figure, which was an exact copy of the suit his brother's soul had once been trapped in. To be honest, he was actually feeling quite nostalgic at the moment. "And you can do this with any metal? How does it work, if you don't mind me asking."

Edward snorted. If he explained all of Alchemy to the man, it would take more time then they had in the entire day. Ed shook his head. "It's not a semblance, per se. I focus on the elements making up the materials, like scientifically, and my 'power' breaks them down into the base elements. Like with water, I removed the oxygen and mixed it with the silicon and some glass to make a variant of Quartz. the remaining water became steam. The color was an effect by changing the pattern of the crystals so only one wave of light is reflected." He explained.

Roman nodded. "I get it." He lied, clearly not understanding most of the science behind it. "So you have some kind of chemistry power? That's cool, I guess."

Ed chuckled. "You don't understand I can do that with  _any_ material that is from the earth, and maaaaybe some other stuff if it is similar in nature. And it's also not a semblance. I don't even have my aura unlocked. Never have, and never plan to. It sounds nasty. If my aura is a physical manifestation of the soul, I sure as hell don't want my soul to be injured, let alone be outside my body where anyone could mess with it. Despite what Hunters do, there has to be some kind of bad side effect for having your very  _soul_  take hits for you." Edward was begging to raise his voice towards the end of the minor rant. He sighed, rubbing his face. "Sorry, I've had bad experiences in my past."

Roman nodded. "That's understandable, we all have made mistakes. But with  _any metal_? Do you know the possibilities if we had to make a heist and copy something we plan to steal? Or open a vault? That would be fantastic! I would be the best crook alive! Alas, you seem to be an enigma. I don't know how you have a power like that without an aura to power it. Regardless, you are astounding."

Ed tapped his nose. "Trade secret. You stay away from the skeletons in my closet, and I'll do the same to yours. I wouldn't go around letting all of Vale know that you're a thief, but you've already done that yourself, haven't you?"

Roman cackled in glee. "You know what? I think I like you." he decided, putting an arm around Edward. "Even if it's only for one job, you'll be better than most of my other men, and much better conversation as well. You're hired. How much you get paid is a percentage of how much profit we get. The better you do, the better you get paid my petite friend."

Ed bared his teeth in a wide smile, ignoring the jab at his height. "I like the way you think, Roman. Here, your drink's on me." Ed slid some lien across the table.

Roman tipped his hat, and rose from the stool. "Thank you for your time. I'll have Junior let you know when I need you." the pompous man said.

Ed nodded. "See you then." Roman strolled off, leaving through the back door. Edward blinked. When did he become so good at talking diplomatically and smooth talking people? He gagged silently when he realized Roy must have rubbed off on him over the years. He sobered up when he remembered the good times he had drinking with Mustang and his crew.

He turned his thoughts away from his past, focusing on the retreating figure. Torchwick was a real piece of work, pretty close to Kimblee in personality. If he were a murdering psychopath and also wore more white, he'd be a dead ringer for him. Fortunately he was not a murderer, and was actually pretty funny, if not pretentious. Ed noted with amusement that Miltia and Melanie had left ages ago, most likely to go flirt with an unsuspecting guy.

Junior sighed in relief once the man had left. "Ugh, kid, you're gonna kill me one of these days. Do you know what could happen if you piss him off? We could be screwed over."

Ed waved his hands in denial. "Nah, I'm far too charismatic for that to happen." Junior groaned and placed his head on the table.

A voice interrupted them. "Strawberry sunrise, no ice. Oh, and one of those little umbrellas." Ed glanced to the side, raising an eyebrow at the apparent age of the newcomer. A young teen stood there, and Ed blinked in surprise when he realized her rather large chest was right next to his face. He rolled his eyes and moved away slightly, the proximity causing him to blush slightly. He avoided staring at her rather revealing outfit. Totally. She was hot though.

Besides, he was 25, almost 26. She was probably underage despite her appearance. He did not want an illegal underage relationship on his record. He then observed the rest of her outfit with a practiced eye. She wore a tan jacket that bares her midriff, with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons. Underneath this, she wore a low cut yellow crop top with the same symbol.

She also was wearing a brown belt covered by a pleated brown piece of material reaching from hip to hip around the back of her waist, with her emblem emblazoned on the right-most pleat in gold. A row of shotgun shells was visible in one of the side pouches. Underneath this was a longer, white, asymmetrical piece of material reaching to her knee on the right side, as well as a pair of black mini-shorts. She also had a pair of brown, knee-high boots and orange over-the-knee socks, with the right sock pushed down just below the knee. A lavender bandana was tied around her left knee. An orange infinity scarf and black fingerless gloves completed her outfit.

"Hey, aren't you a little young to be in this club, Blondie?" Junior said, standing up and towering over her with his superior height. Edward took in a lot of features that Junior probably missed, like the gauntlets on her hands clearly had a mechanism with shotgun shells, and she was trained well, based on her relaxed pose that also left her open to attack or defend.

"Aren't you a little old to have a name like Junior?" she replied cockily.

Ed snorted from the other side, leaning back to enjoy the show. ' _Junior is too trusting of new people who look innocent. I should know. He trusted me, right?_ '

"So you know who I am. You got a name, sweetheart?" Junior rumbled.

"Yes Junior, I've got several. But instead of sweetheart..." she stroked a finger down his chest. "you can just call me sir!" she gripped Junior's balls with her hand, and Edward winced in sympathy for the bear-like man. That was simply something you didn't do to a guy. ' _If this escalates, I'm stepping in. Junior could hold his own against her for a bit, but the club would be ruined. I would repair it, but its reputation would plummet if he loses._ ' Fortunately Edward's temperament was much better once he had gotten older. It seemed that diplomacy actually worked when you were no longer a teenager, and the adults saw you as closer to their equal.

"People say you know everything. Tell me where you can find her, and I'll let you go." Apparently the blonde didn't have the word 'peaceful interaction' in her vocabulary.

"I've never seen her before, I swear!" Junior said in pain. Ed peered at the photo, seeing a female figure that nearly identical to this girl, but had black hair rather then blonde.

"Excuse me?" the girl growled.

"Sir!" he replied. His henchmen had begun to gather around them, arming their weapons.

"Hmm, looks like we have an audience. This must kind of embarrassing for you, huh? Awkward..." the blonde girl chuckled. Edward shifted in his seat, his hands hovering together for a transmutation, and Junior glanced at him and shook his head slightly.

"Listen, Blondie. Sir! If you want to make it out of this club alive, I suggest you let me go. Now!" Junior pleaded, knowing if he were seriously injured then Ed probably would kill the girl. Edward grinned at the threat. If the girl didn't back off, there would be hell to pay."

She lets go and Junior sighs in relief.

"You'll pay for that!" Junior said angrily.

He put on his sunglasses and walked away from her. The girl follows closely behind.

"Oh Junior, I was just playing with you! Don't be so sensitive! Come on, lets kiss and make up, okay?" she said loudly.

Junior stops and turns around. ' _He can't be seriously that gullible?_ ' Ed thought.

"Huh? Uh, okay." Junior replied. Edward groaned, standing up. He quickly moved towards them, seeing the girl's arm cocking back slightly.

"Time for me to teach this brat a lesson." Ed sighed, extending his automail blade.

* * *

As Junior leaned in for a kiss, Yang punched towards his face, only for it to be caught by a young blond man who came out of nowhere. The man didn't even stumble when it hit him, he simply stared at her. "That's all? Man, Junior, you owe me for this." Yang idly noticed the music changing to a new song, not the one that she had been expecting.

A returning punch came back towards Yang, easily knocking her back ten feet. "You know, it's rude to come in here and punch someone like that, especially when we didn't antagonize you first." His voice was deep with frustration and irritation, and was strangely similar to her Uncle's. The similarity would have been funny if she weren't about to fight him. "See, I was enjoying my drink, but unfortunately some upstart young girl thought she could interrupt my time alone."

Yang smiled at the challenger. Finally, someone who seemed strong. At least she didn't have to go through the grunts before the large fry. Now she could get some anger from her system. "Ooh, you look fun. I could use a warm up before I enter Beacon." Yang called, stretching her arms before combat.

The man stared at her dispassionately. "If you think you can just waltz in here and wreck the place, you must be pretty fucking stupid, even for a teenager." The man said with a smirk. Yang looked him up and down. His outfit left a lot of his body hidden, but the blade from his right arm was a clear threat. A shame really, he looked fit, and she would probably be ogling him if he went to the same school as her. The thing was nearly as long as a sword! He had no ranged weapons in sight, and a glint of metal was under his sleeve and from his ankle. Some kind of armor? No matter his abilities, she had been trained by Qrow and Taiyang, the greatest huntsmen in recent history! This man dared insult her simply because she wanted to find her mom?

Yang cocked her weapon. "Bring it on, shrimp." The man twitched. Ooh, a weak spot. "If you insist, I will humor you. And enjoy it." He grinned. He brushed his hands together and quickly touched the floor. Blue lightning appeared, startling Yang. The ground twisted, and suddenly stretched towards her, hitting her multiple times, her aura flashing as the stone arms reached for her. She leapt back, propelled by her gauntlets, out of the arms reach.

"Seriously, was I this stupid when I was younger?" He moved into a battle stance. "Even when I-" he cut off his speech, punching her before she could react, with a solid  _clang_ , his fist plunged into her stomach. The impact knocked her back with a gasp, and she dodged a kick, grabbing his leg and pulling with her semblance-powered strength. Instead of falling over, he moved with the momentum, wrapping around her with his other leg and rolling. She was tossed by him, rolling to the ground. She changed her movement with a blast from Ember Celica, launching right back at him.

"Fight smart, not angry. You're too hotheaded." he advised. Yang grinned at the unintentional pun.

"What, am I too much for you to handle?" Yang asked cockily. "Better leave and let the adults handle it, shorty. I'm Yang Xiao-Long, Huntress in training." She hoped following the reaction he had to her insult about his height would cause the guy to be reckless.

The man bowed mockingly. "Haha! I may be short, but at least I'm not top heavy." the guy winked, sending the insult right back.

Yang snarled in anger at the jab. How dare he?! She was perfectly proportioned for her age! Taking a step forward, he brushed his heels together. When his foot hit the floor, a blue lightning flashed, and the ground rippled, like a wave rolling outwards. She jumped over it, flying at the blond.

She swung again, starting to be less accurate and much wilder. He looked like he would take the hit, but then he dodged it with wide eyes, the shotgun shell discharging just past his head. He leapt forwards, rather than backwards, ramming her to the ground. With a crackle, the ground moved to wrap around her. ' _So that's his semblance? Earth Manipulation?_ ' she rolled her eyes at the idiocy of the situation.

Yang stood up, breaking the concrete around her with ease. She smiled, her semblance forming flames around her. The man raised an brow, and touched the floor again. Spikes formed from the ground, piercing towards her. Yang ducked under one, blocking another with her hand, allowing the massive kinetic energy within to be stored with her semblance. the flames around her rippled with the increase in strength.

"Yah!" She shouted, firing Ember Celica at the man. Dust Flares began flying towards him, and he clapped again. A wall popped up, negating her attack. She moved forward, only to take a kick to the back.

"Ugh, what a bitch. Miltia, who is this girl?" a female voice drawled from behind her.

"I don't know Melanie, but we should teach her a lesson. She's getting too touchy with our Ed." a second replied.

Yang twisted to catch a clawed hand to the side of her head, and she rolled from the blow.

"No need to help me girls, but if you really want to, I can't stop you." her opponent said to the twins.

Yang cocked her weapons again, and charged. A blast to the face caused one twin to back up, separating the duo. She focused on the one with the weaponized high heels, keeping her off balance as they traded blows. Due to her already overpowered strength from her semblance, and now she was collecting energy from the twin's blows, Yang easily overpowered the girl. She dodged an axe kick, and slammed her hand into the white themed girl's nose, launching her across the room. The twin impacted a wall, and coughed up blood, unable to move.

"Melanie!" Miltia cried, running to her sister. Yang hit her from the side, taking advantage of her emotional state. Miltia gasped as the powered beserker fired the shotgun point blank into her head, shattering her aura with a follow up blow. Miltia collapsed without a sound.

* * *

Ed was fed up with Yang, or whatever weird Xingese name she had. This fight was some kind of game to her, when he was fighting for his life. He had no aura, which she didn't notice. Hopefully he could end this soon. It seemed that her semblance made her stronger the more hits she took. Therefore, he would have to slow her down and constrain her. However, that plan went out the fucking window when she hurt Miltia and Melanie. A clap formed a spear, and another hardened the durability of it to near Ultimate Shield levels. He eyed her flames, the heat pouring off of them could be felt from across the room.

Ed ran up to Yang, stabbing at her with the spear. It took her by surprise, slicing her cheek and cutting her shirt. He grabbed her from behind. She twisted, trying to escape, but he did not let go, allowing his automail to groan ominously as she struggled. Her strength didn't change, meaning this didn't power it up. His arm went across her throat, and she gasped for air. "Time for me to stop going easy." he growled. She elbowed him in the chest, knocking all of the air from his lungs.

"Going easy? You're pretty weak! If you didn't have your semblance, and with that pitiful strength, I doubt you could protect anyone!" Yang said, hoping to rile him up. Well, she got what she asked for. Ed's eyes widened, and flashed back to his time protecting his friends. "That was a mistake." he said quietly to Yang.

Ed clapped, and then there was silence.

No sound could be heard, and Yang breathed in, probably to respond. She choked when she realized there was air in the room, and the vacuum was held in place by Edward's power/. She shouted, trying to fire her weapon, but the lack of oxygen prevented the shotgun shells from igniting. Dropping her weapons, she moved forward to punch him normally, but was smacked downwards by a large stone hand that came from the wall. She landed on some spikes that appeared, the pointed top severely harming her aura. Finally, she was hit from both sides by large slabs of stone, almost flattening her if it was't for her strength fighting it. She staggered from the consecutive hits, moving away. Ed followed her, moving in close. He socked her in the face once, twice, and on the third time she swept her arm to the side and kicked him in the chest again.

He rolled over his back, his legs twisting to move with the momentum and kicked back up to a standing position. Edward breathed in, coughing a bit as he got his lungs to work again after he had removed the air. He should end this soon. He could have bested her at any time, but he wanted to get back into the zone, using her as a dodging doll. He looked at his hand and saw some yellow strands in his glove. "Got some hair..." he muttered. Unfortunately, Yang heard him.

* * *

Yang twisted, eyeing the golden haired boy. His gloved hand held some strands of hair.  _Her_ hair, which was clearly different from his hair color. "You touched my  _hair_?!" Yang roared, charging at him. She didn't even bother using the shotgun function of her weapon. Her aura was rather low from his attacks, but she would win. If she aimed for his legs, then she could break them. His aura would heal it over time, but it would end the fight quickly. The heat of her aura was overwhelming, and he winced. She punched him into the ground, her eyes flashing red. ' _Asshole! Well, his semblance was plenty strong, meaning he still has a ton of aura. He can take a hit or two from me still._ '

Oh how wrong she was. She punched straight down, towards his face. He rolled, dodging her blow. Yang swung with her other arm, and hit his leg. She felt a piece of metal beneath his clothing. ' _Armor?_ ' she wondered, right before Ember Celica went off, her finger having pulled instinctively. Then she stared in utter shock as the blast tore its way through his leg armor, obliterating the limb. She smelled burning skin from her semblance, and blood was coming from the wound in more than was healthy.

The man stared at her in pain. "What did you do?! You're insane!" he shouted at her. Yang took a horrified step back, eyeing the blood on the floor. "No no no no no, your aura, it should've-"

He shook his head, holding up a hand. A jolt of fear went through her as she realized it was crackling with his power. "Shut. Up." She felt immediate pressure on her head, and then everything went dark.

* * *

After he used Alchemy to change gravity to the point that Yang passed out, Ed had collapsed, shaking. He hadn't been in a near death situation like that in a while, not since a group of thugs had hit him with a bullet in his shoulder. He had recovered, but it had been terrifying, thinking that he could lose everyone he knew in that moment.

Ed stared at his devastated automail limb, the shouts from Junior and the twins falling on deaf ears as he stared at Winry's masterpiece, his only copy of automail in this world. He shook, holding the metal in his hands.

"-d. ED!" A voice shouted. Edward looked up into Junior's worried face. "Edward, are you alright?"

Ed nodded slowly. "Yeah... I guess."

Junior shook his head. "No, you're going into shock. You just lost a leg."

Edward shook his head. "No, I already had it missing. It was artificial. Atlas tech. Are the twins good?" That was another lie, but he felt no guilt doing so. He looked to the side to see Yang trussed up and unconscious with some mooks around her, eyeing her angrily. If she woke up before the cops arrived, she would be in some trouble.

"They're fine, just need to heal. What were you thinking?! You don't have an aura!"

Edward stood up, moving over to Yang's side with some help from Melanie and Miltia. "I'll watch her. What did you do to her?" Edward said, clapping his hands.

Junior shook his head. "Absolutely not. She wrecked the place, it's also her fault you got hurt. I bashed her a few times until she passed out."

Ed shook his head. "I antagonized her. It's also my fault she hit my legs. I'll secure her better and then we can wait for the cops. Besides, I want to talk to her for a bit."

Junior hesitated, but nodded. "I can't control you. I'm leaving some boys here with you though."

Ed let out a grunt of acknowledgment. "Make sure you gather all of my leg. I'll fix it later." The ' _I hope_ ' was unsaid.

That was how he sat there for the next ten or so minutes, until a groan was heard from the unconscious Huntress in training. Her lilac eyes blinked, before settling on Edward and his missing leg. "Wakey wakey." Edward said.

* * *

"I'm sorry!" Yang cried out, looking at the somber adult watching over her. The thugs around them shifted to keep an eye on them, but were otherwise ignoring their conversation.

"No need to apologize, you've done enough." the man sighed, pointing at his missing leg.

Yang stared. His leg was gone! "But-"

"But  _nothing_." the man growled at her furiously. "You knew full well that you were breaking the law, but your hotheadedness and mommy issues caused you to lose your shit and overreact." Yang winced, some tears forming, but stared at the ground in silence. "I've made thousands of fucking mistakes as a kid, but this takes the cake. Whatever your punishment is, you deserve it."

Yang paled, staring at the man. "To be honest," the man continued. "I enjoyed that fight, until you went too far."

Yang considered running from the feeling the man was giving off. The blonde looked ready to kill her if she didn't move. If she stayed, she would be in trouble. If she got in trouble, her dad would know, and Ruby would feel bad for her. Ruby! She was in Vale, right? If she could call her- She was cut off before she could move.

"Edward, they're here." the white twin called from the door, her face covered in small cuts from earlier when she was hit into a wall.

"My sister?" Yang said hopefully.

Ed shook his head. "No. The police are here." he said, pointing to flashing lights outside.

* * *

"You are under arrest for breaking and entering, trespassing, multiple cases of assault, and threatening others. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court." a police officer with brown shirt cuffs said, holding down Yang with aura inhibitors in her cuffs.

The cop turned to Edward, who was being supported by Junior. His leg was bleeding slightly, but was doing fine. The port was hidden by his pants, and Junior was trusting him enough to wait for after for answers. "Thank you for the help sir. Are you sure you don't need medical help?" the other officer, a young man under 20 years old with yellow trim on his uniform, asked worriedly.

Edward shook his head. "Don't worry kid, I've been in worse places before back when I was in the military. I already sealed it with my semblance, all I need is to talk to a friend and I'll be fine." He had used some alkahestry that Mei had taught him to seal the wounds and heal the others as best he could. He didn't want to risk it if their biology was different from those in Amestris, so he just changed their muscle chemistry to produce more healing and adrenaline to increase their healing along with their aura. The bar was repaired in minutes from his Alchemy, only a few items here and there were not possible to fix due to the pieces being too broken or missing. The cops nodded, moving Yang into the police car.

The officer nodded, clearly incredulous that someone could replace a limb so easily. Ha, if only he knew it was automail to begin with. "Are you pressing charges?" Officer Brown asked.

Edward nodded. "She wrecked the club I was at. Don't worry, we don't need help rebuilding or anything, but if I would like to press charges and file a report." He had already explained the situation earlier, explaining the bar was owned by a friend, and he had simply been there at the right time. Since the cops didn't bother to check, they believed him. Junior also had a contact in the police department to help them, and he showed them evidence from the security cameras that Yang had started the fight, and Ed used his faked Military ID to add credibility to the story.

The Military ID was a transmuted ID card, which was a near replica of an old one that was in an Atlas military records book. He had snagged a blank one for this specific reason, putting his face on the card instead with his information. A quick transmutation and it was legitimate. The cops had bought it hook line and sinker, especially once they checked the system and found his name in there along with his faked history, which he had hacked into earlier that week.

"No, please! I don't want to go to jail! I can't!" Yang said, no longer rambunctious once she realized the enormity of the situation.

Edward stared at her in confusion. "Are you a Truth be damned idiot, kid?!" he roared. Yang flinched, terrified of the now outraged man. "You went into there, looking for a fight, and you expected to get away scot free? Hell no! You will accept your punishment like a mature adult! If I hadn't been there, the place would be wrecked! You should be happy I didn't just beat you up even more for it!" Edward huffed. He turned to Junior. "We're going. Do you need us for anything?"

Officer Brown nodded. "You'll need to come into court for the case if you are pressing charges and come to the station for the report." Junior waved them off. "I'll go. It's my club."

The cop nodded. "You'll get a notice later. Thanks for stopping this one before the fighting got out of hand. The fact a huntress went and did this is atrocious."

Ed blinked. "But... she's not a huntress. She said so herself. She's gonna be one eventually, but this was 'a light warmup' before she goes to Beacon."

The cop stared at him. "Well, that's a bit of a different story then. The punishment for carrying a weapon like that and actually attacking someone when it is not self defense is a lot different for a minor, and if you aren't even in Beacon yet then you should have a license for those weapons." Yang looked devastated. She didn't have a license yet, but was planning to get one as she entered Beacon. The cop continued. "So, could you come down to the station so we could talk this over?"

Ed considered his options. He could go, and actually make sure this girl didn't do something like this again, or leave it to the cops. If he didn't go, the cops might actually be worse for her, since he had an Major rank under his belt and they wouldn't take kindly that she had attacked a veteran. The fact he was 'missing a leg' was definitely going to sour their opinion of her even more. He made his decision quickly.

"I'll go with you guys. The healing's stopped anyway, and I'll be good for a few hours. Let me get something." he quickly transmuted a crutch out of a metal bar nearby, ignoring the policemen's plea to let them help him move or call an ambulance, ( _I'm not a paraplegic!_  he had complained) and leaned on it. The crutch was sturdy, reinforced with a 50% version of the Ultimate Shield along the frame and a denser alloy that the original material was so it could hold the weight of his body and automail. "Alright, let's go." He clambered into the other cop car, and put his head back against the seat in relief. He had two thoughts.

' _What a fucking day_ ', and ' _Tukson's gonna kill me_ '

* * *

*Ring Ring*

"Whazzat..." Taiyang muttered, turning over in bed.

*Ring Ring*

"Zwei, don't eat the dust..." He snorted quietly.

*Ring Ring*

"No... Ray-ray, I don't want to get up..." Taiyang muttered, putting the pillow over his head.

*Ring Ring*

With a groan, Taiyang sat up in bed He glanced over to the flashing scroll. He stretched slowly before picking up his scroll. A quick glance at the number he was being called from caused him to rub his eyes, the brightness of the screen in the dark room preventing him from reading it properly. He glanced at the clock.  _10:45_ , it read, too late for anyone he typically knew to contact him.

He hit the answer button on the device, and yawned. "Hello...?" he asked, not fully awake yet.

"...Dad?" Yang's voice came from the other side quietly.

"Hmm? What's up kiddo?" he asked.

"I need some help." she said nervously, her voice shaky. That got his attention. Yang was a very strong person, both physically and mentally, almost never needing help, thinking she could deal with her problems alone. It was also an issue when she didn't think things through and tended to fly off the handle too easily.

"What's wrong? Do you need me or Qrow to come out there? Ruby's with you, right? Is she in trouble?" he asked worriedly.

Yang sniffed. "I messed up big time, and I got arrested."

Taiyang sat back, rubbing his nose. "WHAT?! Why? How?"

"Well, I was looking for someone who could help me find mom... and I heard about this guy who runs a club. He apparently knew everyone, so I went to him. I was too excited, so when he said he didn't know her, I overreacted." Taiyang winced. When Yang overreacted, things got broken. "I instigated a fight, and then almost beat up his men when this guy intervened, trying to stop me. I don't know who he was, just that he was friendly with the people there. He tried talking to me, but we fought. I insulted him, we traded blows, and then he beat me with his semblance. What I didn't know was that he had run out of aura."

That was a shocker. Someone had fought Yang to a standstill with no aura left at the end and still used their semblance? Who was this guy? "So you injured him? Did you at least apologize? I can have someone in Vale come help deal with the charges and-"

"DAD!" Yang said sharply, cutting him off. She breathed in heavily calming down. "You don't understand. I... I blew off his leg."

Taiyang sat in stunned silence. The chances of such a thing happening to someone with aura were astronomical.

"It was an accident, I didn't want to hurt him, he had just been about to win, so I aimed to weaken his leg so he couldn't follow me if I ran, and I just overdid it and then there was blood and I couldn't move and then I was knocked out." she rambled. "Dad? Are you still there?"

Taiyang nodded. "Yeah kiddo. I'll make some calls. Is Ruby okay?"

Yang paused. "No. Maybe. I don't know!" she said in frustration. "I was arrested and taken to the station, the guy who I injured was healed enough to be able to come with me, and he's filing a report right now. I wasn't able to contact Ruby, so I have no clue where she is right now."

He nodded, already messaging Qrow with his backup scroll. "Alright, don't worry, I'll call her right away. This will all be over soon, okay? I love you."

Yang sniffled again. "I love you too dad." He hung up the scroll and dialed another number.

After a few rings, it picked up. "Hey, Oz." Taiyang said into the receiver. "I could use a favor."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nyx Note: So, anyone who wants to suggest shenanigans Ed gets into, go ahead. The Yang thing happened, so will Beacon in the future, maybe two more chapters. Ed should meet the last two members of Team RWBY before Beacon happens. (Wink Wink) Next update should be for Chaotic Chaos, but I'm also editing stuff in Musical Melodies, and writing a battle scene for Armored Alchemist is taking a bit. You should know by now that updates are slow with me.
> 
> Word count of this chapter: 8,953 words including the notes before and after.
> 
> Breaking News: I am now not only 'Nyx the Author', but 'Nyx the Beta'! I am a beta editor for the story 'Harry Potter and the Return to the First Life' by dEBB987. It's really good, I highly suggest it if you know Overlord and love Harry Potter. If anyone wants me to beta their stuff, I'll do a check through for you. (Just let me know if you want me to critique your plot as well as grammar). I've never personally gotten arrested, so I wrote this as best I could. If someone wants to go through this chapter and point out any errors, that'd be nice. Thanks for reading this chapter! Leave a review and check out my other stuff!


	4. Headmaster meet Major

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edward meets someone new, and has to deal with politic talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ed's personality is much different due to the amount of time after canon, as can be noticed here. He still gets triggered pretty easily though :D

 

*Tick Tock*

A clock ticked from the wall of the waiting room within the police station while Edward sketched away on a piece of paper, detailing how he could repair his automail leg. He scowled when the pencil snapped again, his stress causing him to put too much force on the pencil. He ripped out the page with a growl, shaking his head. He kept forgetting how to enable an automail limb access to the full range of human flexibility, and the prototype he was drawing would only allow simple movements. Winry was no longer able to help design the limb, so he would have to locate someone who could help him here.

Two guards from Junior's club sat next to him, on the twins orders, because they were worried that someone (namely Yang) would go after Ed at the station for getting her in trouble.

A knock came from the door, and Officer Yellow stuck in his head. Ed was thankful he had lengthened his pants with Alchemy to hide the fact that it was prosthetic and not his actual limb. "Erm, Major Edward Elric? Someone would like to speak with you..." the young officer said, badly concealing his shock at such a young man being an ex-officer in the military.

So someone had arrived to talk to him about lifting the charges on Yang? Edward snorted internally. ' _Hell no, that firecracker needs to learn restraint._ '

Edward stood up, leaning on his crutch, looking haggard. That was a point he learned from Mustang (the sneaky bastard): if you look weak, the enemy will most likely go easier on you, not expecting something. Of course, that was the opposite for politics where the opposing side would take advantage of weakness.

"No need to rise, Major Elric." an old voice said. Edward blinked in surprise when the person who came through the door was a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes. "Hello, I'm Professor Ozpin. I am very sorry for the incident earlier tonight by one of my students." he said sadly. Ed discreetly signaled the two thugs protecting him to back off, as one had twitched for his weapon.

While Ozpin had a kind demeanor, Edward wasn't buying it. The old guy felt bad for his predicament and loss of a leg, but something wasn't completely honest. By pointing out Ed's rank when he entered, he set the style of the conversation as primarily professional, yet he was being kind, probably to be more convincing and to get something from Ed. His acting was much worse than Envy's, let alone how Wrath had looked old. "No problem, I..." Edward almost said that he had worse injuries before, but that would have meant he had lost another limb in the past. "I'm fine. I had someone with a healing ability nearby, so the wound is closed. I need to get ahold of a prosthetic or something though. How is... Yang?" he asked, almost forgetting her last name.

Ozpin nodded. "Miss Xiao-Long is fine. I'm worried for you, however. An old friend in the military also lost a limb in the past. Perhaps I could contact him for you?"

If he were to accept, he would have to interact with the Atlas military, who would know immediately he was not a Major, in fact, he would probably be killed for impersonating someone. Edward recognized the ploy and moved with it. "Ah, no need. I already have contact with others from Atlas who can assist me."

"Very well. Now, about Miss Xiao-Long, it seems she has caused some issues for you, and we would like to help remove at least a few of those charges." Ozpin said, sipping from his coffee mug.

Edward adamantly shook his head. "Nope. She was the one who started the fight. And what are you to her, Professor? A relative? Why are you here and not her parents?" He asked, trying to find an angle to ruin his argument.

Ozpin's eyes narrowed a little, and he frowned. "I am her teacher, and in  _loco parentis_  as her father is unable to come here. As she has been accepted into Beacon, any crimes she commits is now under our jurisdiction. We cannot let you know whether or not she will be going into Beacon. You're decision affects ours."

Ed nodded, considering the options. If he let her off fully, she wouldn't necessarily learn her lesson, so that option was out. If he left them all, she would lose her dream to become a Huntress, and he didn't want the people that fought  _soulless_  beings to be short a person. That meant he needed to take off just enough of the charges to let her in, but she would still be punished. He also had an advantage, as Ozpin was the one requesting, and he seemed to  _really_ want Yang in Beacon, so he had some leverage. And he would abuse that leverage greatly. "I think I will take off some charges, enough for her to get into Beacon."

Ozpin smiled. "Wonderful, I'll let her kno-"

Edward raised a hand to cut him off and glared. "I wasn't done yet. I'm not taking off all the charges, because she needs to learn her lesson. I need some materials to have a new limb made. No need to contact your friend in the military, just stuff like some sheets of steel, copper, aluminum, stuff like that. Second, I want access to your library on your campus. I'm not a hunter, so I can't access documents and information you might have despite my military status. Finally, I want to have one favor I can call in from you. Standard rules, nothing illegal or immoral or anything that's super expensive, just a favor."

Ozpin's poker face was put to the test, flickering slightly as he tried to find a way around the simple requests that Edward had placed. "Very well." he said finally, a small amount of frustration and resignation in his voice. Ed almost snickered at his expression. It was as if he had eaten a sour lemon but was acting like it was really good. "I agree to the requests except for the access to our library."

Ed frowned. "Why?" The library was his real goal. The amount of information he could get on the Grimm and aura could be useful in the long run, and if they had more in depth information on Dust then it would be helpful as well. Think about it, aura was the physical manifestation of a  _soul_. That was practically a bible for him and all the trouble he had with Alphonse's blood seal years ago. With the centuries of research that Remnant was sure to have, he could do  _anything_! Dust was also useful as the shards of pure energy interested him more than most other things in this world.

"I can't have an unknown person who beat up one of our students simply be able to enter campus whenever they wished, now could I?" the older man sighed. "However, I will speak with my assistant and see if we can reach a compromise. I will be back momentarily. During that time, please try to consider a better offer instead of the library."

Edward nodded. "That's not ideal, but I will remove the most important charges if I get the other requests. In the meantime I still want a compromise where I can get into the library."

Ozpin nodded in acquiescence and turned around and went through the door, and a mature female voice could be heard on the other side began berating him about something before the door closed.

* * *

It was a while later that fast footsteps could be heard, and the door slammed open, startling the two thugs that were with Edward. He waved his hand to the side, stopping them from moving in front of him with their guns.

"Hey Yang!" a young voice called.

He glanced up to see not Ozpin, the officers, nor Yang, but rather a pair of silver eyes gleaming at him like shining coins. It was a young girl in a red skirt and some kind of large mechanical weapon stored on her back, currently hidden by a red cape that flowed down her back. Her expression was bright with excitement, and she stared at Ed for a few seconds before realizing he was not Yang.

"O-oh!" she said in surprise, stopping. "I-I'm so sorry, you look like my sister with your hair color." she squeaked, clearly antisocial. Ed tilted his head, staring intently at the girl. She was the exact opposite in body shape and hair color to Yang, there was no way they could be related. Then his mind caught up with what she had said.

His eye twitched. "You mistook me for Xiao-long? Seriously? My hair is a different color, and not as long. Plus I don't have the assets for that, if you get my meaning?" he replied causing the girl to blush brightly.

"Sorry! It's just that you don't often see a guy with long blond hair." the girl said. "Wait, do you know her?"

Edward snorted. "Yeah, we have a history. Anyway, who are you?"

The girl waved her hand. "I'm Ruby Rose, I want to be a huntress some day!"

Ed smiled kindly. "Major Edward Elric, nice to meet you."

Ruby's eyes sparkled. "Wow! You're in the army! Have you been to Atlas? What am I saying? Of course you have!"

Edward nodded. "Yeah, it's really cold up there. It's good to be in Vale."

Ruby nodded. "You have a point. But I just have to ask. If you're a major, and an adult..."

"Yes?" Ed asked, leaning in.

"Why are you so short?" she asked calmly.

A vein bulged on his forehead. "I'm sorry?" he asked, twitching.

"Well, you should be way taller! Like how General Ironwood is!" she said with stars in her eyes. "I'm short too, but I'm getting taller. I drink milk!"

"Milk?!" he sputtered. "Who're you calling so short he's shorter than a dust shard?!" he said angrily, forcibly restraining himself.

Ruby giggled. "Aww, don't worry, people don't take me seriously because of my height either, and I use one of the best weapons in Vale!" Ruby said, downcast.

Ed nodded apologetically. "As fellow Napoleonic warrior, I understand your pain." he said seriously, putting a hand on her shoulder. They stared at each other for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

"Oh!" Ruby had glanced down to see his missing leg, and gasped in shock. "What happened to you?!" she asked, worried, her eyes widening. "Do you need help?"

Edward laughed at the hyperactive girl's shock. "No no no, I lost my leg a while ago. I'm looking to get a prosthetic replacement soon." he said, holding up the sketches he was doing earlier.

She peered at them and practically salivated. "You designed this? Is this meant to attach to you  _nerves_?!" she asked, flipping through the pages of automail blueprints. He nodded, pulling up his leg to show the port in his stump. She wrinkled her nose at the sight of the metal in his leg, but still peered at the uniquely shaped connection port. "Well a friend designed them for old military veterans, and I eventually memorized how to make them. Looks like it's finally useful." he said wistfully.

She pointed at a part of the leg diagram. "You could make this more efficient if you put a 16 notch gear here rather than a 32 notch one, and if this were moved then..." she began listing off materials and parts that would improve the design and functionality. His eyebrows raised as she pointed out some minor errors that even Winry didn't notice. It helped that these blueprints were designed for something with older tech than this world, but it was amazing to watch the red girl work. "... and if you move the plate on the foot you could fit a gun there!" she exclaimed, snapping Ed out of his reverie.

"What." he said, staring at her. She realized how much she had been talking and stuttered to a stop.

"W-well, if you wanted a weaponized leg then you could have one. I'm a huuuge weapon fanatic, although Yang says I should make more friends and it distracts me too much from homework." she explained.

"Sounds like you know what you're talking about. I prefer my hands and my abilities more than my weapons, since I can make spears and stuff with my power. You've made weapons before? Could you make the leg I sketched for me? I would pay you 10000 lien." he asked in interest. He could make the money easily by transmuting materials from the nearby forests and selling it in Vale. Not to mention working with Roman would probably pay off big if his gut was accurate. It was rarely wrong.

She nodded, already mumbling to herself before she realized his offer. "Whaaaaa... t-ten THOUSAND?!" her mind seemed to stop from the amount he was offering.

"15000 then?" he asked, oblivious to her crisis. Being a State Alchemist meant he had a hundred thousand cenz at any given time, usually more. That tended to desensitize him to large sums of money.

"No, I couldn't possibly accept that!" she said, waving her arms in shock. "That's way too high! How about just 5000?"

Ed nodded. "If you insist. Do you want to take these and make it then?" he asked, holding out the automail sketches.

Ruby nodded, still dazed from the fact she was being commissioned for work. She took the papers and stuffed them into a front pocket that blended in with her outfit. "What colors do you want?"

Ed smiled. "Red and black, maybe some silver. They're really cool colors." he said. "Kinda like you!"

Ruby blushed and scribbled down his requests, hiding her face while she did so. Ed was oblivious to her reaction. "Oh, and this symbol." he pointed to his back, and she peered at the icon.

"What's that?" she inquired.

"That's the Flamel, a symbol passed on from my teacher to my brother and I." he reminisced.

"She sounds really nice." Ruby said kindly.

Edward shivered. "I guess you could say that. She did care about us. Of course she also beat us up..."

There was an awkward silence until Ed coughed and broke the ice. "So... why are you looking for Yang?"

Ruby gasped. "Ohmygod I forgot! Dad said that Yang was arrested so he told me to come and get her while a friend deals with the paperwork so she isn't arrested and so she can still go to Beacon!" she said in one breath.

"Ahh..." Edward sighed. So Ruby didn't know that Yang was the one who had blown off his leg, or that he had gotten her arrested. He nearly told her, but her excitement reminded him of Alphonse back when they were learning Alchemy. If he had found out that Ed was arrested for something back then then he would have been heartbroken. It felt wrong to let Ruby know the details of Yang's arrest, so he decided to let Yang tell her when the time was right. "Well, I was talking to Ozpin earlier and I heard about the situation from her.

"Oh yeah! Ozpin helped me not get arrested earlier when I was fighting Roman Torchwick! He got me accepted to Beacon due to my skill in combat! He told me after that my sister was here and then my dad called and explained what was happening. Now I'm here." she exclaimed. Edward started coughing, taken by surprise. She had almost beat Roman?! It must have been right after their meeting earlier. Also, what the hell Ozpin? One sister loses a fight and is nearly arrested and the other wins a fight that was probably just as destructive and gets off with a slap on the wrist?! Something was fishier than the meals he had in Xing.

"Did you catch him?" Edward asked.

Ruby sighed, kicking her legs. "No, he got away in a Bullhead." Edward nodded, inwardly sighing in he won't be out of a job.

A knock came at the door, causing them to glance up.

Ozpin and strolled through the door, Yang behind him, looking worried and like she had been crying for a while.

Ozpin's eyes widened when he saw Ruby talking with Edward. "Ah, Miss Rose, I did not expect you to be here." he said slowly.

"Oh yeah, I got a call from my dad after I left earlier, and he said to wait for Yang here! Then I met Edward and he was really nice and we talked about weapons and stuff! He's suuuper cool, and really smart! He's in the army, and knows about weapons and how elements work, and funny!" she exclaimed." she cried. Then she spotted Yang behind the professor.

"YANG!" she cried. "What happened to you?"

Yang winced, glancing to the side for a moment. "I started a bar fight."

"More like a one sided assault on everyone there. You need to control yourself, miss girl-on-fire." Ed elaborated.

Ozpin nodded at Ruby, who zipped over and began interrogating Yang about the details, but the blond brawler seemed to be avoiding giving away who it was that beat her so badly.

"Miss Rose, could you please leave the room for a moment? I would like to finish speaking with Mr. Elric." Ozpin said.

"Sure thing Mr. Oz- I mean, Professor!" Ruby smiled, closing the door.

Once there was silence, the two men faced each other. "So, have you reached a decision? I am not changing my request for access to the library and other research information." Edward stated.

Ozpin nodded reluctantly. "Yes, I believe so. Unfortunately I doubt you will be enjoying it."

Ed made no move to cover the frown that marred his face. He was rather close to flipping out on the old guy, his patience finally running out from the long night. "How so?" he asked.

"As I said before, we have no way to allow an outsider to enter Beacon. However, I have a tentative solution."

He was right. Edward did not like it. Not one bit.

* * *

"I was so worried! You didn't contact me letting me know where you went, and it was getting late!" Ruby said, an adorable frown on her face.

Yang sighed, twisting her hair. "I said I'm sorry, Rubes."

"You also said that you got beat up! By who?! Who the heck could have beaten your semblance?!" Ruby exclaimed, waving her arms around. "You literally can't lose!"

Yang chuckled, ruffling Ruby's hair. "You may think so, but it seems that there will always be someone stronger. So, you were talking to the Major?" Yang said, a feeling of guilt spread through her chest.

"Edward? Oh yeah, he's suuuper cool, and really smart! He's in the army, and knows about weapons and how elements work, and funny!" she exclaimed.

Thoughts ran through Yang's head at a lightning pace.  _What the hell was he doing here? And chatting up Ruby?! Wait, Ruby said he was cool and interesting? Did she... did she_ like like  _Edward_?! Yang felt the urge to grin and makes jokes about Ruby's first crush, but then remembered who exactly was the object of Ruby's attentions. "When he saw how good I was with making weapons, he commissioned me to make him something!" Ruby continued.

Yang's interest was peaked. "Really? What is it? Nothing illegal, I hope?" she asked. If someone who worked with Junior of all people wanted ruby to make something, she'd make sure it was no danger whatsoever. "Ruby, I think that you shouldn't be around Edw-"

She stopped herself when she saw Ruby's expression. Her eyes were glimmering and she was happier than she had been in Oum knows how long. She hadn't had true happiness in years. Not since Summer had died. Yang felt a grin appear on her face at Ruby's boundless enthusiasm. "You know what, never mind. Go ahead." she smiled at the shorter teen. She pulled Ruby into a rib bending hug.

"Yaaanng..." Ruby said, blushing fiercely.

"It's good to see you happy, Rubes." she said softly.

"Stop embarrasing me!" Ruby pleaded.

"What? There's no one around to hear us. Also those two seem to be a bit too distracted to pay attention to us." Yang reasoned.

As she gestured to the door, Glynda Goodwitch turned the corner. "Miss Rose! Do you know where Ozpin is? I've been trying to locate him for ages."

"Oh yeah!" Ruby exclaimed. "He's in there!" she said, pointing at the door.

Suddenly the voices within the room raised in volume. "-you zink you can make me go back to combat, zink again! I am retired for a reason!" Edward's voice could be heard.

"Mr. Elric, if you would-" Ozpin's voice said pleadingly. Goodwitch sighed, pinching her nose. "Not again..." she muttered. Ozpin continued speaking quieter, and the sisters leaned in to hear better. The words they could hear faded in and out. "...not actually fight, just..."

"...like hell I vill..." That was Edward.

"...then how about this..." Ozpin said kindly.

Ozpin continued talking for a moment, and Edward's rebuttals went silent. Yang gulped into the silence. Edward had sounded pissed. If he were to attack Ozpin in frustration, then that would not be good. "FINE, I'LL DO IT! HAPPY?" Edward shouted out of nowhere.

The door was kicked open, and Edward stood there with a glare, eyeing the people in front of him. Ozpin was behind him, looking rather disgruntled but satisfied.

"Thank you for your consideration, Major Elric." Ozpin said.

Edward rolled his eyes. "Major this, then Elric that..." he grumbled. "Like the Colonel. That Bastard."

Yang snickered at Edward's description of his superior officer. Goodwitch raised a stern brow at his personality, and moved to reprimand him. Before she could, he irritably pushed past her, not even noticing who it was.

Yang covered Ruby's ears as Edward began spouting a list of what seemed to be curse words in multiple languages. "Verdammte Hölle alter Mann, tu ingenium meum, propellentibus ad finem goddamn!" He finally finished minutes later, turning to the men near him, which Yang recognized as Junior's guards. "We're leaving!" he said to them, moving away.

Ruby stared in awed shock at Edward's exit, both in horror at the fact he had cursed at Ozpin, and shoved Miss Goodwitch, and awe he could do so while missing a leg and not care. Yang was impressed with how much he could say in one breath.

He passed the two girls and nodded to them. "See you, blondie. Oh, by the way...  _that_  was how you deal with negotiations without punching someone." he deadpanned. "Don't kill anyone by accident while I'm away." he laughed at her expression.

"Bye Ruby!" he added, as he turned the corner.

"Bye Ed!" Ruby waved. After the young man turned the corner, the two girls and older woman looked expectantly at Ozpin, the latter absolutely furious.

He sipped his coffee silently before responding. "I think that went well."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do YOU think Ozpin got Edward to agree to in order to be able to get into Beacon's library whenever he wants? It's probably blatantly obvious, and it's probably a bit overdone with other crossovers, but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯.
> 
> Same as always with my other stories. I'm working on them *blah blah* will be done soon (maybe) sorry for delays but responsibilities are a thing. My two stories I'm focusing on because I have a lot of backed up ideas for them are Musical Melodies and this one. Also, I'm a beta for another story as well as 'Harry Potter and the Return to the First Life', which is 'I Fleetly Flee, I Fly' by emouse33. Check it out!


	5. Meetins and Cretins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ed goes Shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have exited my cave, not having posted in weeks, to bring you a peace offering in the form of this chapter. School sucks. Enjoy!
> 
> Timeline Placement: Three days after the Bar Event, a few days before Beacon.

 

Fiddling with an errant screw, a pair of gloved hands completed the simple prosthetic. "Finally..." Edward gasped in relief, collapsing onto the table. He was in the bedroom that he had claimed as his own in Tukson's apartment, surrounded by bits of metal and plastic, all of which were marred by transmutation marks as he had finally made a limb that was compatible with his port. He had spent the last few hours finishing up the prototype and adjusting his automail arm. This would have to do until Ruby finished his arm. Anything to distract him from the deal he made with Ozpin. Roy would kill him if he found out he had been bribed with a library.

He winced as the limb attached, but it was much less painful than normal, both because his pain tolerance was higher than it had been and the simplicity of this leg required less nerve endings to be used than full automail. The leg itself was basic compared to the work of art that was his arm, a simple mechanism that would allow him to bend the joints and ankle fully, but nowhere near the level of actual automail. The metal was what he had requested from Ozpin, and it had arrived earlier. The morning was spent earning money (more of an allowance, really) from Tukson and the rest of his day had been spent on his work. It irked him immensely he had no Dust to experiment on, but Tukson had no viable reason to go into a Dust shop, and the average person simply couldn't buy as high quality Dust as a Huntsman could. Ed had no weapon, nor aura, so he couldn't just waltz in. Meh, he'd just wing it if they required ID.

He sighed and flexed the new limb, rolling his eyes at how plain it was, simply plastic over wiring and some metal for support. A quick clap later, it had red flame decals along the sides atop a grey background. He nearly added gargoyles to it, but that would just be uncomfortable and ruin the stability.

"Done!" he said proudly.

"Good." Tukson said from the doorway.

Edward whirled around, startled. "When did you get here?" he asked in surprise.

Tukson chuckled. "You've been up here for a while. The sound you were making would have driven away customers if it went on for any longer."

Ed grinned in return. "Nice try. It's a weekend, and we're currently closed. I do have a fantastic memory." he boasted. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Tukson grinned. "You know me too well. I'm just worried about what you plan to do later tonight."

"You mean the job with Torchwick?" Edward asked in surprise. "He's not going to kill me. He couldn't, even if he tried. Plus he has nothing on me, and I'm helping him. I don't ask what he wants to do, I get paid. It's by the book criminal activity. Please, it's a wonder he isn't arrested by now. The police here are incompetent."

Tukson rolled his eyes. "Don't insult the police simply because they took a while to respond to the call at Junior's bar. Anyway, you did get money from the minor charges still on the woman who you fought."

"She wasn't a woman, simply a little girl who has large dreams. She flew to close to the sun and got burned." Ed explained, tightening his limb. "She also has mommy issues of some kind. I agree with you, that girl was way too headstrong." He hesitated, realizing he just described himself, but as female. Wow, that was a weird thought. Also, he had been way too much of an asshole as a kid. "Yeah, anyway, I'll be heading over to Junior's to meet Roman in a bit, but first I wanna go buy some stuff for later, and check out a Dust store to see if I can get any. I'm no Huntsman, but maybe they might think I'm one or I can at least learn more about it."

Tukson nodded to himself. "Don't forget to get everything you need for Beacon, alright?"

Ed waved him off. "I got it, I got it. You aren't my father. He was an asshole." a fond smile stole across Ed's face. "Anyway, I don't need too many supplies. The school will be supplying most of it. I'm just getting some dust for my replacement leg since I have no doubt Ruby is overhauling it with some kind of weaponry. " They spoke for a bit more before stopping to eat.

He parted ways after having lunch, and headed to the store to buy some materials for transmutation, including some lead and other metals to make some gold. Hey, it was illegal in Amestris, but there wasn't any rule about making gold here, was there?

* * *

After selling the gold at a dubious pawn shop, he made his way to a Dust store, intent on purchasing some. It would be insanely useful to have some for experimentation. If he belief were correct, the substance was literal Alchemy in a bottle, storing tectonic energy for a specific type of effect. He could simply hold it and use Alchemy with no clapping at all! Well, that is if the Dust was usable like a Philosopher's Stone. The other possibility was that it could be locked to only use the intended effect (Fire, Wind, etc.) rather than be a battery for Alchemy. Only time would tell.

He sauntered into the store, a relaxed smile on his face. Two women worked at the counter, the younger one seemed to be just over the age for Beacon, clearly working for some cash, and the other was over thirty, probably living in Vale for years. "How can I help you?" the older cashier asked.

"I'd like to buy some Dust. Enough to fit into a large case." He explained. The employee looked him over, clearly checking if he looked like a Huntsman. They couldn't just sell it to children. "Going to Beacon soon Dearie?" The woman asked. "Oh! Are you going with  _that_?" she asked gesturing to his missing.

His eye twitched. "Yes, I suppose."

"Well, that'll be along the wall over there. Just use the buttons to fill a canister. A large case holds 20 canisters."

He nodded and moved to the dispensing wall. The multitude of colors was distracting, but he quickly filled one with red, matching his coat. "Heat Dust then?" He muttered. The woman moved around in the background, but his gaze focused on the container as his ability fed him strings of chemical information. ' _Clearly silicone and a steel alloy from the container, some oxygen mixed in to keep it... stable? Wait, What's this?_ ' His 'gaze' focused on the chemical makeup of the Dust. It was complete gibberish, but he noticed a few things in the way the material was made up. The bonds between the molecules were very unstable. ' _Any impact over... I'd say fifteen to twenty five pounds of force would set it off.'_

"Ahem."

_'Man, these containers must have some kind of force dampening ability, or this stuff is safer than it appears. If this were used with Alchemy, I could use it as a power source, but that should be for a life or death moment._

"Ahem!"

 _The side effects could severely damage my nerves if I try to channel it like a transmutation. Can I recreate it? Maybe if-_ '

"Hey! Stop ignoring me!" a voice said from next to him. He turned in surprise to see an irate teen in his face.  _'_ Another _teenager?_ ' he thought, almost rolling his eyes. He glanced at the sword on her hip and the briefcase in her hand. The side had the SDC's icon on it. Interesting...

"Can I help you?" he asked politely.

"Well, if you brought your head out of the clouds then you would know I've been waiting to get some Dust for the last minute or two! Are you brain dead?!" she ranted. Ed watched with a smirk. Man it was someone took the terror out of Olivier Armstrong along with half of her age. It was frankly hilarious.

"Who are you again? I don't know why you're shouting at me, but you're making a scene." he said seriously, holding in his laughter.

"I'm Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I practically own this store, so if you would hurry up, I would greatly appreciate it. Please." She added at the end.

"Ah, the daughter of the racist multimillionaire, right?" He forced a smile and began filling another container.

"What did you call me?" she asked in surprise.

"You don't know?" Edward snorted "Your family employs Faunus in the Dust mines, paying them under the minimum wage and treating them like animals."

Weiss silently glared at him. "You have no proof of these baseless accusations." How wrong she was. He took a peek at the files available on a few shady sites and a few databases he managed to crack into online. There was plenty of evidence, it was just the backlash from the SDC and the fact no one else manufactured Dust on the scale they did prevented someone from acting against the family.

"If you say so Ms. Snow." He smiled crookedly waving her off. "Once I get my Dust I'll be on my way."

"What did you call me?" she asked in surprise, assuming the name was similar to Ice Queen or something just as awful. He blinked in surprise.

"Your name means White Snow in my language." he explained, letting a bit of his accent slip into his words.

"Your language? There's only one known language on Remnant." she frowned. "Where did you come from that's so far into the Grimmlands it has another language?"

' _Nice going Fullmetal, you blew your backstory already._ ' A voice that sounded strangely like Mustang's voice said mockingly from the back of his head. Even in another world the Bastard still was watching over him. "Can't tell you." he said. "Plus I doubt you know of it."

She drew herself up as he finished filling the other containers. "I have been taught by the best tutors in Atlas. There is no location that I haven't learned, especially somewhere a cretin like you came from."

"Wow, that's an insult I haven't heard in a while. Usually it comes after midget, prick, asshole, bastard, pipsqueak, and many other phrases. What about me makes me worthy of such a term?" he said with a self satisfied grin, closing up the briefcase. He loved the way her stuck up expression changed to disgust showed at the tirade of curse words. She could learn a thing or two from Hawkeye about keeping her cool. Served her right.

"Well, ignoring your wide  _vocabulary_ , you clearly aren't of a higher class, your clothing, mannerisms, and grease stains clearly show it. Obviously you made it into Beacon with limited money, probably barely passable skills, and will finish at the middle of the class or lower. You only got in because of the need for Huntsmen across Remnant." She looked him up and down. "So now tell me, where are you from?!"

"Have you heard of Risembool? Near the province of Amestris? No? There you go then." He chuckled at her confused expression. There was no way she would find it on a map, let alone in a history book or database. Even if she found his government file from his forgeries, he had covered it with red herrings and encoded it to high hell. Half of the encryptions needed extensive knowledge of Alchemy to break, as the passwords were long strings of numbers he had memorized that represented transmutations.

He sighed with irritation and turned to Weiss. "Alright Ms.  _Snow_." he said sarcastically, simply to irritate her. "You're going to Beacon as vell, correct? When we arrive, I'll fight you in combat class, and then if you win, I'll answer five questions about myself so long as they aren't too personal. If I win, you have to do me one teensy little favor. Fair?" A wide grin spread across his face.

Weiss paused, seriously considering the option. "Deal."

Edward nodded and held out his left hand, still a force of habit after all these years. "Edward Elric, nice to officially meet you."

Weiss took it awkwardly, surprised by his use of his left hand. "Pleasure." Weiss said weakly. Edward was well aware that his name didn't match the color norms of this world where most names had to do with a color of some kind. Some examples included Torchwick being an orange color, Ruby's name having to do with red, and her sister's name apparently translated to  _little sun dragon_ or something, so the yellow color scheme made sense.

"Well, I'll be seeing you at Beacon, Ms. Snow." He waved as he walked away. He heard her exasperated sigh as he sauntered away.

The younger woman at the counter saw him approaching and gave a small smile. "Sorry you had to deal with her." the woman said.

"She's been here before? I thought she was from Atlas?" he asked while sorting out the proper amount of Lien. The young woman shook her head and answered quietly. "She came by a few weeks ago to inspect the facilities with the proper officials, but we could barely stand her.I pity the teachers in Beacon who have to deal with her."

Ed chuckled. "I've dealt with worse." he said with a grin. He took the package of Dust with him and left the store. "So Ozpin. You got be to teach near indestructible kids at Beacon, huh?" he said, glancing at the tower in the distance. "This is gonna be interesting."

* * *

_"What is your alternative?" Edward said to the older man, arms crossed._

_"I am open to giving access to our library if you accept my conditions." Ozpin said._

_"I joined the military for their information, this won't be much worse." Edward said with a smile._

_"I want you to be a Huntsman under my command." Ozpin said._

_Huntsmen. Slayers of Grimm, protectors of humanity. This all sounded much too similar to fighting the Homunculi, with soulless creatures rather than creatures made of stolen souls. He slammed his crutch on the ground in anger. "I vill not be a pawn, Headmaster. You zink you can make me go into combat, zink again! I am retired for a reason!" His accent began appearing as his anger grew._

_Ozpin had a strange gleam in his eye. "Of course not. I did not intend it in that manner. What I mean is that I would like you to work at Beacon Academy, not actually fight on the battlefield."_

_"Vhat?" he asked in surprise. Ozpin nodded. "I am in need of more teachers at my school. You managed to defeat a Huntress in training, albeit with damage, but I think you could have finished this fight sooner than you did. I would like you to help train these teens to fight for humanity."_

_"Like hell I vill! I don't vant ze childrenz lives in my hands. I doubt they would want my help. I have caused enough suffering in my life." a shadow covered his gaze as he reminisced through old memories. Ozpin nodded sadly. "Yes, I suppose that's true. Then how about this. I supply you with income, a place to live, a library, and you help train these students as best as you can. Within legal reasons, of course." He had nearly walked out before agreeing, but Ruby's face flashed through his mind, reminiscent of Nina and Alexander, and Edward had made his decision._

* * *

Edward grimaced as he remembered the discussion with the old Headmaster about his job description. Well, it couldn't be worse than joining the- Nope, he stopped that thought before it ran too far.

He gathered the other materials he would need for experimentation, and made his way back to Tukson's apartment. A buzzing sound was heard as his scroll received a message. He flinched and scrambled to grab it from his pocket. "Goddamn portable telephones. Why the hell- how do I even-" he muttered as his glove slipped on the screen a bit until it finally unlocked the device. Stupid screens not sensing his gloves. He read the message from an unknown number.

 **XXX-825-1939 (Unknown Number)**  
Mr. Elric, this is Headmaster Ozpin. Glinda, the combat instructor of Beacon Academy, wishes for you to take the Bullhead to Beacon with the students rather than a separate one for the other is to see your ability to cooperate with the students and also acquaint yourself with people near your age level. It will not interfere with the students' grades or studies in any way. After that you will begin your duties as a Professor. I look forward to seeing you in a few days.  
Sincerely,  
Professor Ozpin

Edward rubbed his nose in irritation. Going on a  _flying_  machine?! Despite seeing the Bullheads travel across Vale, he still was wary of the things. If only the devices existed in Amestris. Their work would have been cut out for them when all you would have to do is fly over the country to see a giant transmutation circle. Even if that didn't work, they could travel so much faster than trains. This should be fine though, right? All he has to do is make it for a half of an hour through the air surrounded by students. He paused. Something about that fact seemed wrong. "Oh... right." a few of those students in particular probably wanted to kill him. The rest were probably immature and would pester him the entire way there.

"Screw you Ozpin... I swear you're gonna be the death of me." Edward said as he nearly crushed his scroll in one hand.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nyx's Note: Hey, welcome to the new chapter! I had such a interesting combat scene planned for Edward to meet Weiss, but then in the end it would have been too out of character despite the amazingness of the humor. Alas, it has been deleted and replaced by what you just read. 
> 
> Beacon is up next, along with Ruby completing his leg! Speaking of which, any ideas as to how Ruby should... spice up Ed's new leg? She's the one who's making it, so it should be interesting. Dust will be used in some way. (Remember, the #1 rule in RWBY still stands regardless of other stuff. 'IT'S ALSO A GUN!') Please inform me of any continuity errors, this chapter was a little annoying to write at points.
> 
> Also I'm going to see the Season 6 premiere for RWBY in theatres! WOOOOO! October 25th BABY! And then LA Comic-Con on the 27th! *Dances*
> 
> Fun Fact: The visible digits of the phone number from Ozpin is the date that the move 'The Wizard of Oz' was released.


	6. Arrival

Edward scanned his ticket into the terminal as his baggage was scanned. His golden eyes swept across the crowds, naturally looking for danger and keeping an eye on his surroundings. He watched as groups of teens chatted, already settling into groups based on social status and personality before they even got to the school. He shook his head ruefully, thanking the fact he never had to deal with social situations as a teen, being in the military before school, and was mostly self taught.

"We hope you enjoy your flight, sir!" an employee said cheerfully. He nodded to her, ignoring the feeling of dread in the back of his head. He was going to be someone's subordinate yet again simply to gain access to a library. Goddamn it. If only he had said no, he could have remained with Tukson. He hoped the old panther would be fine without him.

He made his way into the Bullhead. His temporary leg clacked slightly as he walked, leaving him with a limping gait from a minor difference in height between his legs. Edward placed his gear under his seat and tilted his head back to take a nap on the way.

* * *

Yang hugged Ruby tightly as the Bullhead took off. "I'm so happy you're here with me!" Yang shouted in glee.

Ruby squirmed. "Yaaang! Please stop!"

Yang let go with a sigh. "I know you're excited to give the thing Edward commissioned to him, but you should be focusing more on the school than some other student."

Ruby frowned slightly. "Yang, I know you have a grudge with Edward, but he  _paid_  me to make this. I will Literally have enough money to afford upgrades for Crimson Rose, as well as enough rounds to last me weeks! You just have to get used to him and you'll see he's not such a bad guy. Ooh, I wonder if I'll be on his team?" Ruby blushed slightly. "If you join our team too, we could be great!"

Yang's grin weakened at Ruby's innocent enthusiasm. "It's not that simple Ruby..." Yang winced.  _How do I explain her first friend in Dust knows how long was hurt by me? It would break her heart. I can't just do that to her. It has to be a secret_.

"You say that, but you won't elaborate!" Ruby complained. Yang pinched her nose in frustration. "I'll tell you eventually, but not now, alright? Once we get more settled into Beacon."  _Or never. Never would be nice_.

* * *

Blake's eyes flicked from side to side as she looked for a place to sit. Boisterous trainees filled the aisles, most of them were too loud for her taste. Then she turned to find a seat in the corner that was thankfully empty. She made her way over to it, claiming it before anyone else could. A sigh escaped her lips and she calmed herself down.  _Come on Belladonna, you are here to make a difference. You will forget about Adam. Forget about hi-_  she was broken from her thoughts by a muffled snort from next to her.

In her focus to find some peace and quiet she completely missed the fact that a familiar figure was passed out next to her, his face covered by a worn notebook. He was definitely recognizable, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Then she saw his ponytail hanging over the seat and it all came together. It was that man from the book store. "Edward?" There was no response. Blake eyed the book and practically salivated at its apparent age. She glanced around and didn't see anyone looking her way. She carefully picked up the notebook off of him and turned it over. She glanced through it, seeing scribbles of random numbers and sketches of Dust. There was a weird image of a door and some intricate circles that looked ancient. The rest of it was gibberish, with random phrases from an engineering book in it and most of it in another language altogether. That was unusual in itself. Very few languages existed in Remnant, and the ones that did were known except for some very remote dialects and villages. Maybe he was a researcher before he decided to go to Beacon? Hang on, wasn't he older than the age limit?

Edward snorted, eyes blinking open. Blake closed the book in a flash and placed it next to him, the pages in the exact same order as she found it.

"Oh, it's you. Didn't expect to see a friendly face so soon. At least, not yours." The blonde man said blearily as he woke up. He stretched, and a flash of light caught her eye. She glanced down to see a metal leg where she could have sworn he had a whole one a while back. Blake gasped when she realized he had a prosthetic leg.

"What happened to you?!" Blake said in shock, quietly enough to hide the topic of their conversation.

Edward sighed, knocking on the fake limb. "Some hothead started a fight at a bar I was at. As a friend of the owner I decided to step in. This was ages ago. I actually had it when we first met. You did notice my arm?"

Blake remembered seeing a flash of what she though was armor under his sleeve back in Tukson's shop. "So your arm is artificial as well?" she said, much more controlled.

Ed nodded, not explaining any more.

Blake frowned. "How will you participate in student initiation if you're..."

"Crippled? Don't have an aura? Simple, I won't." Edward laughed at her expression. "I never said I was going to the school as a student, now did I? I'm twenty five, remember?"

Blake widened her eyes at the revelation. "Wait, you're a  _teacher?_ " she exclaimed.

He waved her off. "Please, I'm just a combat instructor, you don't have to go out of your way to be respectful. My Father would be the Professor, if he were here. I'm more of the assistant. Ozpin was impressed with my skill despite the handicap I have. He wants me to teach the students aspects of combat you don't go over at the competitive level. Yes, you will mostly fight against other teams at school, but your ultimate job is to counter the Grimm. Grimm don't fight fair, so I'm going to teach you some skills."

"Ah. Thanks for answering my questions, I didn't mean to be nosy. I won't tell anyone." Blake said, putting away her book.

"Just like I won't mention your ears, kitty cat." Ed chuckled, Blake glaring as the mentioned ears twitched again. They were interrupted by a crackle overhead.

" _Please remain in your seats, we are approaching our destination. Do not stand up until the crew signals you to do so. Enjoy your time at Beacon Academy._ " A female voice said over the intercom.

"Well, we're almost there. I'll be seeing you in class then?" Edward asked.

"Of course." Blake replied. They felt the Bullhead landing on the ground.

"Welp, I'd best be going ahead to meet with Ozpin." He nodded to her as he stood, and picked up his bag as he walked to the exit.

* * *

Ruby bounced with excitement as she made her way off of the Bullheads, dragging Yang along. "C'mon! We're going to be late!" she shouted.

Yang smiled at Ruby's enthusiasm. "I bet you can't wait for classes, huh?" she smiled.

Ruby nodded excitedly. "Yeah! I can't wait to show Crescent Rose since I built her myself!" She glanced surreptitiously at the briefcase she held in her arms.

Yang noticed Ruby's expression. "What, you're still thinking about Him?"

Ruby pouted. "Just because you have issues with Edward and he was there when you were arrested doesn't mean you should be angry that I want to see him. Why can't you tell me the reason you hate him? I finished the le- er- the weapon he asked for. You would probably get along great."

Yang stared at her for a few moments, growing uncomfortable. Ruby really was too innocent for her own good. "It's not that simple." She glanced around for a few seconds before blurting a response. "Oh! I think I see some friends from Signal! Gotta go!" she turn and dashed off towards some friends, leaving Ruby standing there, slightly downcast, but mostly confused.

"Oh, okay! See you later!" she called, oblivious to Yang's avoidance. She turned to the crowds around her and scanned them, having to jump to see over people's heads. On her third attempt to see over the crowd she saw golden hair. "Edward!" she shouted, rushing through the crowd. She jumped around a group of people, trying to keep him in sight. As she twisted under a mace of a large teen's back, she slammed into something with a clang and fell to the ground.

"Ow..." Ruby muttered. She glanced down to see the briefcase completely fine, and hugged it against her chest. If anything had happened to it she would be so upset! She hadn't brought any tools to fix the ports of the limb if it had been damaged.

"Watch where you're going!" a high voice said. Ruby turned to see a girl with white hair and piercing blue eyes glaring down at her. "Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused?"

Ruby stared in fear at the girl. She already had someone mad at her on the first day! The girl snatched up a case from the ground. "This is Dust! Mined and purified from the Schnee Dust Company's Quarry!" The girl began shaking a Dust phial in Ruby's face. "What are you, brain dead?! Dust! Fire! Water! Does any of this ring a bell? Are you even listening to me?" A cloud of red Dust floated into the air, settling on their clothes.

Ruby realized the small amount of Dust that was leaking was causing her to sneeze, which might then set off the- "ACHOO!"

Ruby sneezed, igniting the very reactive Dust in the air. AS she could literally see the air about to explode, a gloved hand entered her view. With a crackle of lightning, the combusting Dust re-condensed into a dust crystal again, the excess energy going... somewhere.

* * *

"Ms. Snow, Ms. Rose." Edward said as he tapped the crystal into a container of his own. He slipped the container into his luggage, securing his notes within at the same time. "What exactly is going on here that cause you to nearly blow up the courtyard?" his voice was calm and collected, but a hint of worry was laced through it. Ruby turned to him with a relieved smile, happy that someone she knew had arrived. Edward heard someone stop behind him, watching the conversation. He saw a flicker of black.  _'Ah, that would be Blake then._ '

"What did you do, you cretin?" Weiss asked. Her teachings on Dust had practically been blasted out of the window. He had just converted energy into Dust! That was something that could only happen when it formed under the earth! Quite literally the  _opposite_  of what it was meant to do, and he did it with his bare hands!

"Aw, thanks for remembering me." he said cheekily. "I don't know what you're talking about. I saw Ms. Rose here in danger, and stepped in as is my duty as a Professor at this fine establishment."

"You're a teacher? You?" Weiss gasped, conflicted in how she should respond. "I don't believe it." Ruby had stars in her eyes with excitement, but he ignored her for a moment.

Edward raised an eyebrow. "Neither do I. Unfortunately it is a circumstance we must deal with. Now, hurry up, I will deal with Miss Rose. Miss Snow, in the future, please do keep an eye on your belongings. Someone could have been hurt. Oh, and do remember our agreement." Weiss twitched, hands clenching in annoyance, but didn't want to take the chance that he was, in fact, in a higher position than her at that moment. With a  _hmph_ , she stalked away, pulling the boxes of Dust with her.

"Miss Belladonna, please hurry on as well." Edward said. Blake nodded from her position behind him, and made her way into the school.

Once the others were out of earshot, he slumped, and sent a wry grin towards Ruby. "Finally. I had no idea being as professional as Mustang was so difficult." he moaned, rubbing his nose. He turned to her eagerly, glancing at the briefcase. "Now, Ruby, do you have what I commissioned?"

Ruby jumped, not expecting the change in his behavior. "O-oh! Yes, I do!" She held out the box towards him. He took it eagerly and unlatched the lid. The top opened silently and he gazed in awe at the smooth piece of art that was his new leg. It was much smoother than any of his other limbs. Rather than the previous thicker limb that was made of several layered plates, this limb was much more compact, yet just as stable. As requested, it was carbon fiber, with metal edges so it could be used to hit without breaking the fiber. It was a beautiful lacquered black color with red highlights, and a silver flamel was emblazoned on the kneecap. He smiled in childish glee. "This is amazing! I wasn't sure if you could do it!" he exclaimed. He pushed a button on the back to see a compartment that could store Dust cartridges.

"You... didn't believe in me?" Ruby said softly.

He looked up at Ruby's suddenly downcast face and waved an arm around in embarrassment. "I didn't mean it like that! I meant this technology is kept pretty quiet here due to it's experimental state, so the fact you made something so complex from just a blueprint was a test of skill on its own. Could you do it again?!" he asked.

Ruby blinked in surprise. "You mean for your arm?"

Edward nodded. "Exactly. This old thing is so clunky compared to this new limb, I have got to get it upgraded. I mean, I'm pretty attached to it and wouldn't want to see it go, but I really need a new one. I could probably put it up on my wall or something. I'll pay you more, since you deserve it."

Ruby shook her head. "I don't need that much! How about we call it the same price, since you're a repeat customer, and I'll throw in free maintenance for if it needs tuning up."

Edward stuck out his left hand. "Sounds good!" They shook hands. He blinked in surprise. "Speaking of payment, I forgot, here's your payment for the leg." He drew out five 1000 lien chips. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Ruby cheered, hugging him.

"Woah there." he said, "No need to get all touchy feely."

She stepped back, blushing. "Sorry!"

He closed the case and put it in the hand with his luggage. "Don't worry about it. I'll put on the leg later." She nodded and turned towards the school, and paused.

"So..." Ruby said, shifting from side to side awkwardly. "Do you know where we need to go?" she asked.

Edward grinned sheepishly. "Not at all. It's my first day here. Let's find out together." Ruby followed him as they made their way into the school.

* * *

Weiss grumbled as she typed away on her scroll. First Elric had shown up to interrupt her. Then it turns out he was actual authority?! The last straw was being chewed out by that girl in black after she had left. What had  _Professor_  Elric called her? Ah, yes, Miss Belladonna. The girl had insulted the SDC and claimed they enslaved faunus. Just who did she think she was?! She glared at her scroll as she wrapped up her email to Winter.

_Dearest Winter,_

_I am writing to inform you that I have arrived at Beacon Academy and am awaiting the orientation speech. The ride in the bullheads was quite enjoyable, but I cannot say the same for the rest of the day._

_When I first set foot upon the campus I was run into by another student. I berated her for her ignorance, and she nearly set off a large amount of Dust in the courtyard. We were interrupted by a young man I met in one of our Dust stores. I believe I mentioned in our last correspondence he had challenged me to a duel? I found out to my complete surprise that he is in fact a Professor at this school. I don't understand the reasons for Professor Ozpin's actions. Speaking of, the girl who ran into me had to be at least fourteen. Is he hiring interns or underage secretaries now? I would appreciate it if you could research Mr. Elric, as something about him doesn't seem to fit. He claims to be from a town known as Risembool, and speaks a language I haven't heard of. He claims my name translates to White Snow in his language._

_I was quite enamored by the architecture here, although the squabbling students ruined the atmosphere. A quite rude girl who was referred to as Miss Belladonna insulted our name and made the ridiculous claim that we enslave faunus. I nearly lost my temper, but thankfully she left for the opening speech. The other students seem to be equally inept and rude, and a blond boy has already attempted to flirt with me in a horrific fashion, labeling me 'Snow Angel'. I am debating my choice to learn at Beacon._

_Ah, it appears we are about to begin the opening ceremony. Professor Elric is nowhere to be seen, nor is the girl who ran into me earlier._

_I shall keep you informed of my achievements as the school year continues._

_Yours truly,_

_Weiss_

* * *

**_END CHAPTER_ **

**Truthfully, it's been so long since I've updated this I had trouble getting into the character's personalities. I hope I did alright. If you notice any continuity errors let me know as well please! I also have been so busy with College applications and digital art practice that I haven't been writing. Thankfully I have been accepted into three colleges so far, so I have more time. To add to that, due to the fires here in California I have no school for 2 weeks from now. I have no schedule for updates, I'm pretty much writing as I have time between school and Nier: Automata, so I barely managed to finish this today.**

**Leave a review! Thanks for reading!**


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